Flags at half mast! The Post Office clock chimes 11am, and everywhere comes to a standstill to 'remember' on Remembrance Day, Sydney, Australia, November 1936.

​On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, it is universally accepted that at this significant time and on this historic day each year, we all stop what we are doing - momentarily - to remember those brave men and women who gave - and continue to give - so much during times of war and conflict. Some made the ultimate sacrifice, and for them, time stopped not just for 2 minutes but forever.

Remembering Heroes in Time: A Horological Archive

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'I am in all and of all, at the heart of every move in this man’s war. I am the witness of every action, the chronicler of every second that the war ticks on… I am, in this way, the indispensable, the always-to-be-reckoned-with.

Our objective since September 2013 has been - with your kind help - to grow this site into the most visited commemorative archive of watches, clocks and any timepiece associated directly or indirectly with war and conflict. We are now pleased to say that we would also welcome your contributions to be included within our first book. Please have a look at our news page for details.

During these special centenary years of the Great War, this site will continue to evolve and will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. The intention is not to simply strive to create an exhaustive list, or inventory of military watches, but to record and commemorate the sacrifices, achievements and memories of those who served (and those currently serving) by exhibiting a picture of their timepiece - along with their distinct, often unique story - in this archive and series of books.

Should your picture be displayed on this site, or if you wish in our book, please feel reassured that there is no letting go or diminishing of the special relationship with the images. In many cases sharing in this experience may help to bring others closer in mind and spirit to a loved one, especially during these poignant years of remembrance. We also intend to relate many stories and diverse pieces of information regarding war related horology, and hope that you will find that particular aspect of interest.

Please help us to remember forever, all those that not only served in the forces during times of conflict, but also those who otherwise played a significant role. Perhaps you have an image of your mother or father during WW1 or WW2 wearing their military watch, a snapshot of your local church clock tower that was bombed, a clock that survived the Blitz, or you still proudly own your great grandfather's or grandmother's trench, pocket or fob watch. If so, please contact us, and help us record and preserve their legacy for all time. Please share them by sending any images or information to stevemac57@btinternet.com or in our Contact and Blog pages, and it will help to not only preserve the legacy, but commemorate and immortalise all facets of the way time passed during such stoical, emotional and undoubtedly heroic times.

Since September 2013, Time For Remembrance has been featured in and supported by BFBS Radio, @ProducerNickyBBC Spotlight, BBC Radio Devon, Exeter Living Magazine, Express & Echo, Western Morning News and many other newspapers magazines and distributors. We would like to thank them all for their kind support. We would also like to give special thanks to actor, author and presenter Mr David Lowe @DystoniaDavid ​for all his time, help and support. ​ We look forward to receiving your support and kind contributions.

​Their Legacy, Remembered in Time...

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ATestament in Time

Left; Watch worn by L/Cpl. Harold Ralph Flower of Maungaturoto who served in WW1 with the 7th Reinforcements, 4th Battalion,H Company, New Zealand Rifle Brigade.Killed in action at Messines, Belgium, 7 June 1917.

Enhanced image of the letter removed from Rifleman Flower. Please zoom in to read.

Above left; A military band plays to an assembled crowd celebrating the end of WW1, during a parade in Winchester Main Road, Hampshire, England, on Armistice Day 1915. It had been arranged that the hostilities should cease at 11am. Note the clock in the top left corner - extending into, and facing along the road - not displaying 11am, but nonetheless recording a momentous time! Above right: A British soldier looks up at Big Ben just as the clock strikes 11am on Sunday 3rd September 1939, and Britain’s ultimatum to Germany expires. The celebrations of the end of a War to end all Wars are sadly a distant memory. Although these images represent the start and finish of the world wars, it is the poignance of the time and time itself that is of significance, and resonates throughout this archive in all its forms. Images are by kind courtesy of iwm.org.uk

'Going Over The Top'A Trench Watch That Timed Events on 1 July 1916, at Matthew Copse, The Somme.

The watch image below has been kindly donated to PrimeTime by Maya Harrison, and is from the collections of Wakefield Museums.

D Company were timed to ‘go over the top’ at 7.48 am on the 1 July. This is the watch that timed that event in the battle. All the entries at the museum are personally certified by Captain Ede England.

The 3rd label below describes Captain Ede England's pilgrimage returning to the battlefront 50 years later and standing in the shallow depression which represented the British front line at 'Matthew Copse', Serre village (Serre was one of the strongly fortified villages held by the German army at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme). The four copses were named after the four apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Time Waits For No Man's Land

​This image entitled; 'Waiting for the Whistle' 1st July 1917 The Somme, is by kind courtesy of Soren Hawkes MA, artist. The picture encapsulates a feeling of preparedness, against the odds, for what is to come just before 'going over the top' of the trenches during WW1.

The tension, trepidation and anxiety that soldiers must have been experiencing appears to be replaced with a portrayal of a sense of stoical commitment to the dreadful task ahead.

The officer studying each passing second on his trench watch, is just about to send his men into 'no man's land' (a term that is believed to have come into usage during the 1400s but is now inextricably connected with WW1, as the area between the trenches of the opposing armies.)

See below for an actual account from Private Hudson, a soldier in WW1, whose story was recorded by the BBC as the seconds ticked by in the trenches.

'It is utterly impossible to describe one's feelings during the hours of waiting for 'zero hour' - the mind is full of wild thoughts and fancies etc which are utterly beyond control. Recollections of friends and dear ones, places we have seen and known and different phases of life all seem to pass in review before one's eyes and one is recalled to the bitter realities of the moment by the officer's voice: 'Fifteen minutes to go, boys, get ready.' Immediately there is a great stir and excitement, a final setting of equipment etc and examination of arms and then a handshake with one or two dear comrades. 6.45 am, 'Over you go, boys,' and we are away on that strange journey across 'No-Man's Land'.

George Kellett’s 1918 World War 1 Diary

At the beginning of 1918 George Kellett (left) a Wakefield soldier based in France, received a Christmas parcel which contained a Christmas cake, parkin, a few apples and a diary. George then recorded his year as a World War 1 soldier. His family donated his diary to Wakefield Museums.

The diary details George’s life as a soldier - letters from home, pay arrangements, games of draughts, getting ready for draft, working on a rifle range, digging trenches.

His diary entries include a reference to his watch:

18 March 1918

'...Went down to town tonight and five of us had our photo taken in a group. Got my watch today which father sent me from home. Wrote asking him to send me some money...'

Note George’s trench watch mentioned in his diary, on his left wrist in the image on the left:

From January 2014, Wakefield Museums will be publishing George’s Diary entries on 'Twitter'. According to the museum, over the year, this will build up a picture of what his experience was. By very kind courtesy of @WW1_Diary on Twitter and; http://www.wakefieldmuseumsandlibraries.blogspot.co.uk​

Poppy Days... A Very Personal Meaning;My Lovely Dad, 'Poppy', Remembered with Great Pride and Much Love.

Sadly, my Dad (who I called Poppy) passed away on 21 February 2016 at the age of 80. A generous, loving, and much loved​Brother, Uncle, Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Husband, Father in law, Friend, and most of all, Father.

​Above; RAF Padgate, Warrington, Cheshire, England, where Dad did his 'square bashing' and learned many skills.

Left; ​RAF Padgate, Warrington, Cheshire, England, where my Dad did the first part of his National Service.

​Dad did his National Service between 1953 - 1955 at RAF Padgate, RAF Odiham, and RAF Locking.After his Service, Dad met our Mum Judith at 'Toc H' in Manchester. Toc H is an international charity and membership movement that emerged from a soldiers' club in Poperinge, Belgium during World War I. It is an international movement instigated by the Reverend Philip Thomas Byard (Tubby) Clayton as a way to perpetuate the Fellowship developed in Talbot House, a soldiers’ club run by him in Belgium from 1915-1918. According to the Toc H website, It is from the contemporary phonetic alphabet for TH (Talbot House) that Toc H takes its unique name.​Mum and Dad married in 1961, and Dad went on to become asuccessful (and kind) bank manager in Cheshire, England.

​He trained and worked with the signals, working on transmitters, receivers and de-coders.

​To Poppy, Loved Forever, Never Forgotten.​Cathy McAnespie

Please see the entries later in this archive relating to my paternal Grandfather​

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Above left; Rebecca's much loved Grandparents, Eileen and Eric 'a dreamy love match'. Right; Rebecca in one of her many character roles.

WHISKY TANGO FOXTROT

We have been kindly contacted by the 2015 BroadwayWorld UK / West End Awards nominated actress Rebecca Crookshank, who amongst numerous other things, has been starring in her phenomenal stage play 'Whisky Tango Foxtrot', which begins touring the country again from Spring 2016. Rebecca wished to honour and commemorate the memory of her Grandmother, who has sadly passed away, and celebrate her Grandfather within this archive​; Rebecca comments as follows;

​'..., here is a picture of my Grandma and Grandad, Eileen and Eric. Grandma was from Donegal in Ireland, granddad from Glasgow. He was a Royal Marine and they met in Glasgow. He proposed 10 days later, a dreamy love match!...

[Grandma] had many dress watches and she would love it if she knew I still treasured her watch. When Grandad left the Royal Marines in the 70s he went to work in Saudi Arabia building swimming pools, he was away for a whole year at one time. Whilst serving as a royal Marine he engineered the tracks for snow vehicles, so it's thanks to him that military vehicles can manoeuvre on the snow!

My Dad was in the Royal Marines too in transport. He, like my Grandad, did a lot of great work with 42 Commando. When he wasn't in Norway, He used to take me along to the Open days, I loved the assault courses. Three generations!

​​Dad suggested joining the RAF as their food was the best according to him!'

Above left. Rebecca's Grandmother's dress Watch. An attractive Seiko. Seiko, (reputedly Japanese for 'success' or 'exquisite'.) The Company was founded in 1881. Rebecca informs us the strap has been replaced.

Left; a family picture of Rebecca's lovely Grandmother, Eileen, with one of her dress watches displayed - kindly set by Rebecca to the eleventh hour to honour her family and all our heroes.

Rebecca did join the forces, the RAF, and parts of her many and varied experiences can be seen in her innovative stage play, so stay tuned!

Rebecca's play will be appearing at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, Devon in April 2016!

Please see Rebecca's other wonderful contribution to our archive in the Taking Time​ to remember our Heroes page.

We have been contacted by Mr Mark Bannan, who very kindly tells us of his Grandfather who owned a Waltham pocket watch and served during WW1. He also relates the story of his Father, who gifted him his Omega 'Moonwatch';

'Time for Remembrance

The 100 Year Timeline. 1916-2016My Grandad Frank Bannan (26 May 1890-22 October 1978) served in WW1 from 19th April 1915 according to National Archives and other on -line records. It is one of my regrets that I never had the conversation with him that would have given me more information on his involvement in WW1 or how he came by the watch which this remembrance is about.

In the late 1960s or early 70s when I was in my teens my Grandad gifted me his 9 ct gold watch and chain, an American Waltham USA Traveler. The serial number 20890426 dates it to 1916/17 according to charts. The Dennison watch case stamped ALD 137747 was made by the company founded by Aaron Lufkin Dennison. The watch came with its original box from H&A Kimball of 182, Aldersgate Street, London EC. Established in 1868. The Waltham Traveler was apparently an economically priced model favoured by the export market in the early 20th century with large numbers being sent to the UK.

Some 40 years later my Dad (1924-2009) who was Grandad's middle child gifted me his 1978 Omega Speedmaster 'Moonwatch' and ever since I have been fascinated by watches and the connection they create to people and events through time. The Speedmaster of course was the first watch worn on the Moon and I was fortunate enough to meet some of the Apollo astronauts, who like my Dad served in WW2 (HMS Foley) and ask them about the watch and the part it played in their missions - another story!

Mark's Granddad, Frank Bannan (26 May 1890-22 October 1978) with his family.

A project for 2016, the centenary of the Waltham watch, is to see what I can find out from family members about the watch, how my Grandad came by it and when. In the meantime I have managed to glean some basic information from records about his WW1 involvement.

WW1 and my GrandadMy Grandad served in the Royal Naval Air Service from 19th April 1915 to 31 December 1917 as a 1st Class Air Mechanic. HIs service number was F4045. The records take a bit of deciphering but I can see that he served on President 11 and later HMS Queen, with postings to Aberdeen, Eastern Mediterranean, Mudros and Otranto. President 11 was the accounting base for the RNAS although someone listed there could also have been on a ship too small to have its own paymaster. HMS Queen was re-fitted for service as a depot ship for the personnel of the Adriatic anti submarine net barrage patrol in the Strait of Otranto between December 1916 and February 1917 which is approximately when my watch was manufactured.​Mudros was a RNAS base near the Dardanelles in the Eastern Mediterranean on the Greek island of Lemnos near Lesbos . After the Gallipoli campaign was called off in 1915 it remained the Allied base for the blockade of the Dardanelles for the duration of WW1. I know from my sister who learnt it from my Dad, that Grandad used to talk to him many times about his time in Mudros.

Grandad was discharged from the RNAS to the newly created RAF (1 April 1918) with a 20 prefixing his original service number.

He served with the RAF in Eastern Mediterranean and Display Centre at Crystal Palace in January 1919 before being transferred to RAF Reserves in February 1919 and then discharged on 30th April 1920. I can only imagine that as a young carpenter born in Bayswater and living in Hammersmith, the experience of being sent to these far flung places must have been terrifying and exciting in the same measure. I have written this remembrance as a tribute to my Grandad and many others like him plucked from ordinary lives to serve their country.

For future generations lest they should forget​Unfortunately I have no photos of Grandad from WW1 but there are two family photos taken in the late 1920s or early 30s which show him wearing a watch chain across his waistcoat [see image above] with either the watch or most likely a fob or charm (gold coin?)

I still have a 1902 half sovereign which he gave me at around the same time. How the world must have changed for him since that coin was minted. After that I have no more memories relating to Grandad and his watch other than the moment he gave it to me. But I feel proud and honoured today to have been the one he chose to gift it to and so create a 100 year time line to be continued for future generations.​Thank you for reading this tribute and god bless to Grandad and my Dad.'

Many thanks to Mark for this fascinating and moving commemoration. Please see below for his latest contribution to our site.​

Time and Tide

This intriguing story and images have been kindly provided by author Sarah Reay. She is the Grand-daughter of a true hero, Army Chaplain, the Rev. Herbert Butler Cowl C.F. M.C

Sarah writes;

'This is the watch which was worn by Army Chaplain, the Rev. Herbert Butler Cowl C.F. M.C. whilst crossing the channel as a seriously wounded padre on HMHS Anglia in 1915. On the morning of 17 November Herbert Cowl was taken on board the Anglia by stretcher as a 'cot case'. He had been seriously wounded whilst serving on the frontline in Flanders with the 68th Brigade.

During a heavy German bombardment ten days earlier at the frontline, the chaplain had been hit. The first medic at the scene thought he was a 'gonner', but after surgery to remove a piece of shrapnel which was lodged in his throat and a short period of post operative recuperation, he was well enough to be transported on an ambulance train to Hotel Christol, the Red Cross hospital in Boulogne.

​A few days later, four miles off the Dover coast, HMHS Anglia hit a German mine. An explosion ripped through the ship and she began to sink. The events of that fateful day are detailed in Herbert's story, The Half-Shilling Curate, A personal account of war & faith 1914-1918 which tells the previously untold story of his experiences as an Army Chaplain during the Great War. Much of the story is told in his own words through his letters home to his parents and his private writings. Rev. Cowl was one of the lucky ones - he survived. Approximately 134 men and one nurse died on the Anglia - the wreck at the bottom of the sea is their protected war grave. Due to Herbert Cowl's actions on the Anglia, he became the only known Army Chaplain to be awarded the Military Cross Medal for gallantry on a ship during the entire war.

Herbert had an incredible knack of seeing the good in everything and his humour shone through even in the darkest of times. He wrote:

Had not kindly hands brought welcome blankets, my first appearance in Dover would have been more sensational than ecclesiastical: for by then my clothing amounted to a small wrist watch: which is now my only souvenir of active service!

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Herbert's watch and medals proudly displayed. A wonderful commemoration of a very brave Hero.

Herbert had finally arrived home in England! From the patrol boat he was wrapped in a warm blanket, lifted on to a stretcher and taken to Dover Station where he was put on a comfortable hospital train – destination London.A doctor from the quayside called - ‘Where’s this Army Chaplain? What you a Chaplain? Well, get onto my back: The Lord has been good to you this time, my boy!’.

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An illustration of the Sinking of The Anglia. A 'True Image of the scene on that fateful day'.

The hero in this story is Harold G Hiley. He served with the Merchant Navy during WW1.

According to the extensive and painstaking research of Robert, Harold was born in 1881, in Ealing in the borough of Brentford. He married in 1907 in Lambeth and served in 1915 as Third Mate aboard the ship "S.S. Watermouth", and he was also joined by his wife, May. This was a Merchant Navy ship. The watch is engraved August 1916, and Harold's ship was torpedoed within weeks of this. Two crew lost their lives. Harold and his wife survived the attack.

Some time after the war ended, it seems either he was divorced, or his wife died. Harold remarried again, in 1924 in Bridgend. Harold passed away in 1956, not far from here, in Totnes, Devon, England.

The watch was beautifully restored, and the inscription and restoration expertise can be seen above.

Many thanks to Robert for this wonderful story, brilliantly researched.

19,240 individual figures each represent a serviceman who lost their lives on the first day of battle.

​ Shrouded In Honour​

​The following entry has been graciously provided by Mark Bannan in addition to the entries above. He recently visited the magnificent art installation of artist Rob Heard and contributed the following moving account of his time there;

'On 7th July 2016, 100 years and 6 days after the start of the Battle of the Somme my wife, daughter and I visited the memorial '19,240 Shrouds of the Somme' at Northernhay Gardens in Exeter.

This installation by the artist Rob Heard commemorates each one of the 19,240 Allied Servicemen who lost their lives on the first day of this battle on 1st July 1916 through line after line of shrouded figures laid out as if on the battlefield itself. ​19,240 individual figures each relating to a soldier who lost their lives on that day.

'Apart from the sheer scale of the shrouded figures laid out before you, the overwhelming impact for me was the individuality that each figures seemed to possess'

​Apart from the sheer scale of the shrouded figures laid out before you, the overwhelming impact for me was the individuality that each figure seemed to possess, even in the midst of such huge numbers.

Each figure before you related to a named human being who died on that day. I learnt from one of the volunteers on duty that the commemoration opened on 1st July 2016 and that this was the last day, after which the 19,240 figures would never be assembled together in their entirety again. This made it all the more poignant.

I have recorded our experience on TIme for Remembrance as my wife and I had grandfathers who fought in WW1 including one in the trenches and one in the Royal Naval Air Service.

When I was a young man my own granddad who served between 1915 and 1917 gave me his gold American Waltham USA Traveler pocket watch dated 1916. 100 years old this year, I keep it as a reminder to myself and future generations of my family not only of my granddad but also the catastrophic consequences of war.' [Mark Bannan]

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The next quote is from the blog of Rob Heard as he was preparing the figures. His blog is more than worth a visit.

'Each of the 19,240 soldiers who died during the first day of battle will be represented by a 12 inch figure, wrapped and bound in a hand-stitched shroud and arranged in rows on the ground. The purpose of this work is to physicalise the number – to illustrate the enormity of the horror which unfolded and the loss of life. It is easy to say the number but almost impossible now, almost 100 years on, to imagine the physical reality of the bodies and the impact that these deaths had on the friends and families of these individual soldiers or collectively, upon society as a whole.'

Please see our entries from 4th July 2018 in our NEWS page, when we visited the installation upon its return to Northernhay Gardens in Exeter, Devon.

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'Watches Will be Synchronised at 9.15 am'

​We have been contacted by Mr J Bliss of Devon, who has sent us the following story and picture relating to Private George James. Mr Bliss informs us he will contact us again with an update of the information he has provided thus far:'George Henry James was born in St. Pancras, London in 1897 in either January, February or March but moved to Islington when he was just a year old. Thus at the outbreak of WW1 he was 17 years old and by March 1915 he was eligible to join up.

There is unfortunately no record of when he actually joined but it must have been about this time. He joined 1/1st (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers).

​He was injured and died of his wounds on 15th September 1916 at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. This battle is most notable for being the first ever time the British used tanks on the battlefield - as can be seen from the operational orders shown below.' ​[Note the synchronisation time for all watches within the orders below.]

The watch images above have been kindly sent to us by Mr R Bowyer of Devon. The watch belonged to his father who bravely served his country during WW1;

We Will Remember Them

Mr Bowyer contributed as follows;

'Hi Cathy, I've been told that you are collecting a photo record of timepieces with a connection to war, and thought you may be interested in the few memorabilia I have of my late father's WW1 experiences. The rim of [his] medals ID him as 240907 SJT. E BOWYER. 3113 11/NOTTS. & DERBY : R

As his only son (of his later life) I have tried to find out more of his movements during WW1 but have found it difficult to penetrate to the records, such as they may be.

He died, during my own early childhood, of failing kidneys (as a result of WW1 gassing?) in 1949 aged 56. Much as I would like it, I do not have any knowledge of his actions or location which resulted in the award of his MM.

The watch and chain are both of 9ct (375) gold and inscribed; American Waltham U.S.A.Traveler 19478191 DENNISON WATCH CASC Co A.L.D. AN APPRECIATION OF BRAVERY FROM THE DIRECTORS & CLERICAL STAFF OF THE STAVELY COAL AND IRON Co Ltd TO SERGt BOWYER MM APRIL 1919 A.L.D. 137720

The catch mechanism on the front "door" of the watch is well worn and no longer holds the door closed.

Best wishes, R. E. Bowyer,

With huge thanks to Mr Bowyer for his kind contribution.

Time To Remember

This wonderful clock image has been kindly contributed by Brenda Keyte, whose father bravely served with 50th (N) Division Signals, Middle East Forces (her father crafted this superb clock which has a poem on its reverse). Please see below for the poem, which has been burnt into the wood. Alternatively, you can read it in the entry in our 'Taking Time To Remember Our Heroes' page. Please take a look at your convenience. Brenda writes as follows;

'After military training in Catterick Camp (Yorkshire) my father trained as a Radio Mechanic at Bradford Technical College and then "the 50th Division was getting ready to embark for service in the Middle East". He was drafted to Egypt (early 1941 I think), then Cyprus. In Nicosia "we slept on a lovely mosaic floor, but at night out came hundreds of large cockroaches! So I slept on a table".Then later in 1941 "we started moving about a bit" and there are photos of Lake Galilee, Beirut, Baghdad and Baalbek. "Christmas 1941 we spent in Kirkut in the Oil Company Compound. We were under canvas but it rained so hard that we were afloat. However we had the magnificent sum of 11d a day 'hardship allowance'. The officers were in the compound itself which was air conditioned. This merited 2/6d per day"

At the beginning of 1942 they "moved up into the Western Desert" where they stayed for 4 months, 15 miles from Alexandria, "We had a ration of 1 pint of water a day for all purposes and mostly washed our clothes in petrol!"He appears to have been at the Battle of Alemein in 1942 (see attached), but then went down with yellow jaundice and was flown to Alexandria. When he'd recovered, he was told to make his own way back to his unit. which by then was up in Tripoli so he got a lift on a truck "which carried special supplies up to the front" and took 2 weeks to make the journey. Then he was home for a short while in 1943 before apparently taking part in the Normandy Landings on 6th June 1944. Perhaps fortunately for him, he went down with malaria and was sent home on an American ship, called the 'Liberty', across the turbulent Irish Sea, "One of the sailors assured me that these boats often break in two in these choppy seas".

In early 1945 he had to have his appendix removed so happened to be in London when I was born! But then he was sent to Sicily and was in Caserta, "when the German troops surrendered". My parents had married hastily on Christmas Eve 1939 in anticipation of my father being sent abroad. "I was released from the Army in April 1946 after more than 6 years of mostly separation from Penny and our small family. I came out with the magnificent sum of £74 gratuity which we blew on the first holiday we'd had together since we were married".'

By kind contribution of Brenda Keyte dedicated to her father and all our brave heroes.

'The Spaniard' A Story of a hero featured in 'The Winged Dagger' as told by his daughter;

This image of her father has been kindly contributed by Christine Roberts of Exeter, Devon England.

The following story provides a fascinating insight into his life both inside and outside his brave military career.

'My father [pictured centre of the image on the left] was a Spaniard, a Catalan born 5th May 1919. My mother a Czechoslovak born 16th April 1922. They were both from wealthy, privileged and well educated backgrounds. Both very well read, both multi-lingual they brought me up to believe a book to be a gateway to knowledge.

How did these two remarkable people meet? The Spanish civil war broke out and my father took the republican cause, it is believed he chose that side because his father supported the insurgents of fallangists and he really did not like his or know his parents. They did not want children, but nevertheless had them and they were raised by servants, when he was seven he was sent to a boarding school in Madrid run by Jesuits.

My mother was four years old when her father died, and because he was a successful businessman buying forests and selling the products her mother was left very comfortably off. She had many relatives who lent support and security.

World War II changed everyone's life. For my mother the German Occupation, any young healthy person who was not employed in some vital job would be sent either to labour camps or munitions factory. The Kodec family had connections and she was fortunate to get work in Prague her home town as a clerk for the National Bank of Czechoslovakia, she worked well and because of the connections they survived the war.

My father with the collapse of the Republican army at Ebro was taken with many thousands of threes to a prisoner of war camp in North Africa. This prison was more of an internment camp, not quite an open prison but they were able to go out to local markets each time returning in time for roll call. Then one day with a handful of others they walked out for the last time and volunteered in the British Army.

He joined the Pioneer Corp, from there he volunteered for the Special Air Service. Some of his exploits get a mention in a book call "The Winged Dagger" by Roy Farren. He is frequently referred to as "the Spaniard". Only near the end when his act of heroism (and stamina) won him a military medal, does his name get a mention.

After the war was over, my mother unexpectedly finds herself on her own when her mother dies. She saw that the world she knew for twenty three years was over, the communist were in control. By shear good fortune she gets an exit visa, via her sister in law who was a Russian ballerina, also connected with the K.G.B.She manages to get a lift to England on an English Diplomatic plane with permission to stay in England for one month. This is November 1945.

My father was then on a short leave from the army also in London. At Waterloo Station, they are meeting someone else, they are both stood up. Bearing in mind they were both young and attractive, the following was understandable. They looked at one another, and from there they struck up a conversation. They got on very well, it was not love at first sight, they were too practical but they really enjoyed being with one another. After a week my mother explained that she would have to return to Czechoslovakia and that there was a warrant out for her arrest, for trying to escape and most of all for publishing articles which were less than flattering to the new regime. They were both aware of the atrocities so they knew what awaited her.

This was when my father suggested they get married by special licence. He said it would protect her and she could stay in England, they said if it did not work out they could divorce. So they married, they were very happy. I wonder if it was because they had no unrealistic expectations. In many ways they had a lot in common, both well read, well educated, hard working. They both had a very wide ranging sense of humour. They were also very kind. I know its a bland word that deserves to be used more.

I think it was 1947 that my father along with other war heroes attended a reception held in their honour. Also attending was Ernest Bevan. He spoke to all those who attended. When he came to my father he asked what his plans for the future were and if he could help in any way.

My father said that his family in Barcelona owned a printing and publishing company and that he would like to work in that area. Mr Bevan managed to obtain a union card for him in the printers and stereotypers union. These cards were like gold dust.

This enabled my father to get a job at the Express & Echo newspaper in Exeter. It also was where my father met Reg Roberts who was in charge of the stereotyping department. He learned his trade on the hoof without anyone realising how little experience he really had.

These two men got on very well, my mother joined him when I was two weeks old. The two families became close and socialised. Reg and Irene had two children, Peter and Geraldine. Peter at 20 was still in the army.

For the rest of their lives these families stayed in touch. About 1951 - 1952 my father got a better paid job in Birmingham at the Birmingham Post & Mail. Contact with with two families remained through holidays.

I was 14 when my father at the age of 42 died after a short illness. My widowed mother still kept in touch and we managed to spend holidays in Devon. Peter although 20 years my senior was charming and to my eyes handsome, yes I had a crush on him. He married a local lady and during the following 25 years we got on with our lives.'

Many thanks to Christine Roberts for this wonderful and moving contribution to our archive.

From Mons to Ypres and Beyond...A proud son, Mr Tony Bennett, tells us about his brave father, Mr Robert Harley Egerton Bennett;'Robert Bennett was born in 1889 and joined the Army in 1906. In 1908 he was awarded a King’s Commission into the Somerset Light Infantry. By 1914 he was serving as the Machine Gun Officer in the 1st Battalion, which embarked for France at the very beginning of World War I. The Battalion fought in the initial retreat from Mons and in October took up positions in Ploegsteert (known colloquially as Plugstreet Wood). Shortly afterwards Robert was appointed Adjutant . There was very heavy fighting around this area and the Battalion suffered heavy casualties. In April 1915 the Battalion took part in the Second Battle of Ypres during which the Germans used poison gas for the first time. Robert was Mentioned in Despatches in May and was awarded the Military Cross a month later. Later he was evacuated to England, but was again In France in 1918 serving as the Brigade Major of 57 Brigade, which helped the French to stabilise their defences after a major German breakthrough. Robert was again Mentioned in Despatches and in June was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Commander. After the War he continued to serve with the Somerset Light Infantry until retiring in 1937. In 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force and served in a number of Staff and Administrative appointments. He was Mentioned in Despatches in 1942 for work in Bomber Command. He finally retired in 1947.'

The following images have also been kindly donated to the archive by Tony.

This image is of Tony's father's trench watch which accompanied him at Mons and Ypres.

This was used by him to calculate and measure the angles of slope, elevation etc of an object with respect to
gravity during his time as a machine gunner. It determined the angle of incidence between the observer and the target.

It is Ministry of Defence (MOD) Issue.

Another essentialpart of the WW1 machine gunner's kit, the pocket prismatic compass,

Reverse angle of the compass;

F Barker & Son Makers. London 1917.

Again courtesy of Tony.

Finally, his pocket barometer fitted with a curved mercury thermometer, which could well have recorded the diverse weather conditions of the regions at the time. It is housed in its original leather case.

Engraved on the dial; E.R Watts & Son London 1762

With grateful thanks to Mr Tony Bennett.

Graham sporting the watch seen in fine detail below.

A Hero To The Corps

Having seen a fascinating episode of 'Antiques Roadshow' which included a young lad quite rightly effusing about his hero Great Granddad's exploits with the Royal Flying Corps during WW1, we felt we just had to contact the family to find out more. Especially, when he mentioned he still owned the watch of his Great Grandfather - which you can see in the image left. The following excerpts are from the biography of Graham Conacher Young, the Grandfather of Mr Alistair Young, who was kind enough to contact us and provide this stirring biography and images of this innovative WW1 hero.

'Graham Conacher Young, was born in Perth, Scotland on 29th March 1892. His father and Grandfather were both architects and civil engineers. Graham was to follow the family trade and also trained as an architect and civil engineer.

Graham in the cockpit of one of his aircraft.

Graham received a private education at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. In 1915, at the age of 23, he entered the Royal Military School, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the 1st Seaforth Highlanders, Gazetted on 22nd October 1915.

He was posted to Egypt in May 1916 where he was to serve with the Seaforth Highlanders until September 1916 when he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps.

Graham’s first assignment with the Royal Flying Corps was to attend a course in the Theory of Flight at Oxford. From there he went to Central Flying School at Netheravon in Wiltshire, qualifying as a pilot on 6th February 1917. This was followed by a course in aerial gunnery at Folkestone in February 1917. He was posted to join 60th squadron in France on 6th April 1917. His first flight in France was on 9th April, a 25 minute local flight in a Nieuport aircraft.

The next 4 days were spent in training flights practicing formation flying and firing at targets. The first sighting of hostile aircraft was in the afternoon of 13th April, but they were not engaged. The following day hostile aircraft were seen and engaged, Graham’s gun jammed.

The following graphic excerpt is from '60 Squadron a Detailed History' by author Joe Warne and kindly provided by Graham's proud Grandson Alistair. Note the reference to Freiherr Von Richthofen aka The 'Red Baron';

'BLOODY APRIL . A disastrous weekend for the Squadron occurred in mid April. On 14 April Capt Binnie, led B Flight on a diversionary patrol looking for enemy aircraft whilst 11 Squadron sent six FEs to take photos near Douai. Seeing 2 hostile 2-seaters trapped over the photo area Binnie dived to attack them, followed by Lt Russell. Russell was subjected to return fire from one of the HA which punctured his petrol tank, petrol poured over his legs and his engine stopped. Jasta 11 then arrived on the scene and Manfred von Richthofen forced Russell to land near Bois Bernard, where he was taken PoW. In the PoW camp he later met Capt Binnie, who had accounted for 4 HA before he was hit in the shoulder while changing a drum of ammunition. The aircraft caught fire, and although he managed to put the fire out he had fainted, recovering just in time to put the aircraft down safely, but behind the lines. In taxying, the aircraft went into a shell-hole and tipped over, catching fire again. He was pulled out of the Nieuport and came to in hospital, where his arm was amputated. He was repatriated in January 1918 and immediately resumed flying with a specially modified aircraft, which had the throttle on the stick. He was awarded the MC as the result of a recommendation made before these events. Meanwhile, 2Lt Lewis Chapman was shot down by Vfw Festner, taken POW, but died of his wounds on 16 April. New Zealander 2Lt John Cock was also shot down and killed. Apart from Binnie, all these pilots had been with the Squadron for only a few days. Lt Graham Young was the only pilot to return from this patrol.'

During his time with 60 squadron Graham is credited with 5 victories, which qualifies him as an ace. Another ‘Ace’ he was to meet in 60 Squadron was W.A. (Billy) Bishop VC.

Graham alongside his flying ace companion Billy Bishop with 60 Squadron in France in 1917. See the entries relating to Billy Bishop later in the archive in relation to 'clockwork warfare'.

On December 23rd Graham received a posting to the home establishment, this was confirmed on Christmas Eve as a posting to 61 Home Defence Squadron. 61 Squadron was stationed at Rochford in Essex, as part of the London Air Defence Area. They were initially equipped with Sopwith Pups until re-equipping with SE5a’s and later Sopwith Camels.

By 1918 attacks by air on London were decreasing, however Graham did fly a number of night air raid patrols, following qualifying as a night fighter pilot in January 1918. While at Rochford he designed a damper to disguise the burst of flame from the exhaust system of a SE5a. This was essential for night operations.

He was also involved in experiments with wireless telephony having attended a course in the subject in June 191, following qualifying as a night fighter pilot in January 1918. With the war ending on 11th November 1918, Graham continued in service with 61 Squadron and was transferred to 37 HD squadron in January 1919. 37 Squadron was based at Stow Maries in Essex until being re located to Biggin Hill before being disbanded.

The image left shows the front of the dial of Graham's watch which accompanied him on many of his aerial victories. It is a typical timepiece with subsidiary seconds hand, and highlighted red 12 o' clock position.

Superb image of the reverse of Graham's watch. Displaying his name, rank and Corps.

This outstanding hero of WW1, Graham Conacher Young, passed away in Perth on 29th November 1962.

Graham returned to the Seaforth Highlanders on 10th November 1919 and was then transferred to the Tank Corps on April 10th 1920, then posted to No 2 Armoured Car Company in Iraq on 10th June 1920. This was during the Arab Rebellion. He served there until January 1923 when he retired due to ill health from an illness contracted in Iraq.

Graham returned to Scotland and a successful career in architecture in partnership with his father. During WW2 he was The Perth Company Commander of the Home Guard. He was also an instructor with the Air Cadet Corps following the war.

This outstanding hero of WW1, Graham Conacher Young, passed away in Perth on 29th November 1962.'

We cannot sufficiently thank the Young family, who kindly contributed this story and images to us. Should you wish to see more about the film taken for The Antiques Roadshow and the history of the Royal Flying Corps, please click this link; http://www.stowmaries.org.uk

An image of a Smith Bakelite cased 8 day wall clock, from one of the Russian Arctic Convoy ships circa 1944.

The following information and image left, is taken from the fascinating site which commemorates and archives the brave explorations and campaigns of the Russian Arctic Convoy fleets during WW2.

'The North Atlantic Fleet sailed from 1941 to 1945 from the UK to North Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel to aid Russian Allies. The Russian Convoys were called ‘the Suicide Missions’ by many of those men who sailed on them. Merchant ships with supplies and ammunition were escorted by British Royal Naval ships and aircraft carriers. These supplies were vital to the war effort as German forces had Russia completely blockaded. During the war young men of 18 were drafted into the forces and some lads in the Merchant Navy were only 16 years old. With German u-boats and aircraft intent on stopping supplies to Russia many ships were lost and over 3,000 young men perished in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, their bodies never to be recovered. Supplies came initially solely from British sources with a greatly increasing quantity from America from January 1942. Allied supplies transported to Russia included 7,411 aircraft, 4,932 anti-tank guns and 5,218 tanks. For Prime Minister Winston Churchill, these supplies were a vital demonstration of Allied solidarity. He did however call the Arctic Convoys The Worst Journey in the World With a total of 78 Convoys to Russia, Loch Ewe in Wester Ross, Scotland was where 19 of the convoys departed, a further 23 left from Liverpool, The Clyde (Glasgow), Oban and Reykjavik (Iceland). From Russia to the UK there were 36 convoys.'

Whilst visiting my mother in Highbridge, Somerset, I just happened upon this intriguing statue [Cathy McAnespie]. It depicts Major Francis Edward Foley (Born 24 November 1884, in Highbridge, Somerset Died 8 May 1958.)

He was a British Secret Intelligence Service officer, working at passport control in the British Embassy in Berlin. , Foley "bent the rules" and helped thousands of Jewish families escape from Nazi Germany after 'Kristallnacht' and before the outbreak of WW2.

Foley was in Hamburg studying philosophy, when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in August 1914. He made his way through Germany towards the north of the Netherlands by borrowing a military uniform and posing as a Prussian Army officer. Exchanging the uniform for civilian clothes, he managed to get to Emden, and with the help of a local priest found some fishermen who ferried him into the neutral Netherlands. He made his way back to Highbridge and took a job as an assistant master at Bengeo Preparatory School while considering what to do next.

At the end of 1915 he decided to join the army, and entered the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, originally restricted to barristers before the rules were relaxed to include university and public school entrants. He received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Hertfordshire Regiment in January 1917, and was posted to France and the Western Front, where he was promoted to acting Captain. He was wounded in the chest while fighting near Ecoust-Saint-Mein and evacuated back to England.

Foley had been lucky to escape; within a few hours savage fighting, the strength of his unit had been cut by two thirds. The bullet had damaged his left lung, and after convalescence and recuperation, he was ruled no longer fit for front-line duty and sent on leave.

The story of his escape from Germany and his language skills had been noted by someone at the War Office. He was encouraged to apply for the Intelligence Corps. In July 1918 he became part of a small unit which was responsible for recruiting and running networks of secret agents in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After a few weeks he was sent to France, where, after the Armistice, he served for a short time in the Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control in Cologne. After the running down of the Commission, he was subsequently offered the post of passport control officer in Berlin which was a cover for his main duties as head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) station. During the 1920s and 30s, Foley was successful in recruiting agents and acquiring key details of German military research and development.Foley is primarily remembered as a "British Schindler". In his role as passport control officer he helped thousands of Jews escape from Nazi Germany. At the 1961 trial of former ranking Nazi Adolf Eichmann, he was described as a "Scarlet Pimpernel" for the way he risked his own life to save Jews threatened with death by the Nazis. Despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, Foley would bend the rules when stamping passports and issuing visas, to allow Jews to escape "legally" to Britain or Palestine, which was then controlled by the British. Sometimes he went further, going into internment camps to get Jews out, hiding them in his home, and helping them get forged passports. One Jewish aid worker estimated that he saved "tens of thousands" of people from the Holocaust.

At the outbreak of war Foley was recalled to London. In 1941, he was given the task of questioning Hitler's Deputy Rudolf Hess, after Hess's flight to Scotland. After Hess was hospitalised in 1942, Foley helped co-ordinate MI5 and MI6 in running a network of double agents called the 'Double Cross System'. He returned to Berlin after the war, where he was involved in hunting for ex-SS members. In 1949 Foley retired to Stourbridge, a town in the Black Country, and died there in 1958; he is buried in Stourbridge Cemetery.

This statue was commissioned from sculptor Jonathan Sells and unveiled on the anniversary of VE Day, which is also the anniversary of his death. The 'Frank Foley Parkway' between Highbridge and Burnham on Sea opened on 7 July 2009.

Since putting this wonderful story into our archive, we have been in touch with the sculptor Jonathan Sells, who is more than happy for us to record why he chose this particular time on the clock and its significance; 'Dear Cathy Thank you for your interest in my Frank Foley Sculpture at Highbridge, Somerset. With my work there are often many layers of meaning, but the main significance of the time on the clock is that it represents the time period in which Frank Foley was assisting Jewish people in getting visas so that they could leave Nazi Germany leading up to the outbreak of World War II. He headed the passport division of the British Embassy in Berlin in the 1930's, up to the start of the war, 1939. In terms of the 24 hour clock, this would be 19 hours 39 minutes. I was also sculpting the piece for the 47th anniversary of his passing, he died in 1958. Whilst working I was consciously aware that the hands on the clock also made significant the number 7 and also 40 minutes, this was not consciously done, although the date of the start of the war was, however it's an interesting coincidence. I've now had a look at your website and it's very thorough and you have put tons of work into it! I've added it to my favourites so that I can have a really good read of it one day soon. Being honest due to time restraints I didn't actually get to finish the piece, I would love to go back and add certain details to it one day. Thank you so much for your interest. Best wishes Jonathan'.

Alternative views of this captivating creation, revealing various modes of transport. Although the observer may well infer a darker interpretation. Above right, the plaque honouring this outstanding man

East Brent Parishioners Remember

​We were recently in Somerset, and visited East Brent, near Brent Knoll.​This remarkable memorial is noteworthy in that it commemorates all of the services including the Merchant Navy [Steve McAnespie.]

In the Second World War, German U-boats sank nearly 14.7 million tons of Allied shipping, which amounted to 2,828 ships (around two thirds of the total allied tonnage lost).

The United Kingdom alone suffered the loss of 11.7 million tons, which was 54% of the total Merchant Navy fleet at the outbreak of the Second World War.

32,000 merchant seafarers were killed aboard convoy vessels in the war, but along with the Royal Navy, the convoys successfully imported enough supplies to allow an Allied victory. Merchant Navy Day became an official day of remembrance on 3 September 2000.

​The following information comes from the excellent web site of Mr J Rigarlsford;

​'Our Village War memorial to those young men of the parish who gave their lives in 2 world wars and the Korean War stands proudly at the junction of the Old Bristol Road and the Weston Road.[The statue was erected circa 1921.]

The East Brent village memorial is unusual in that it depicts statues of each of the main wartime services.​Neville Curry from New Zealand came to visit the memorial in 2008, as it is believed that his father was the model for the statue of the Royal Flying Corps airman and his uncle was the model for the soldier immediately behind him. It is believed that an American sculptor was commissioned to do the statues and Emerys of Burnham-on-sea were the main stonemasons.

It is also known that some restoration work was carried out on some of the figures sometime during the late 1970’s-80’s.One only has to look at the names to realise the great loss and sacrifice of life during the first world war compared to the second world war.'

The Inscription reads;

​TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN PRAISE AND GRATEFUL MEMORY /OF THE FOLLOWING SOLDIERS FROM OR CONNECTED WITH THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918

When the UK entered the Second World War in September 1939 George VI issued this message:

'In these anxious days I would like to express to all Officers and Men and in The British Merchant Navy and The British Fishing Fleets my confidence in their unfailing determination to play their vital part in defence. To each one I would say: Yours is a task no less essential to my people's experience than that allotted to the Navy, Army and Air Force. Upon you the Nation depends for much of its foodstuffs and raw materials and for the transport of its troops overseas. You have a long and glorious history, and I am proud to bear the title "Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets". I know that you will carry out your duties with resolution and with fortitude, and that high chivalrous traditions of your calling are safe in your hands. God keep you and prosper you in your great task'.

St. Mary's Church, East Brent, Somerset above left.

​Saint Mary's Church, East Brent, Somerset.

​

​There are additional plaques commemorating the fallen from East Brent, in St Mary's Church and theOld Baptist Chapel Rooksbridge.

Memories to Excell

I was recently given this beautiful painting by my lovely Mother in Law Judy as a birthday present.

It is by East Brent, Somerset artist Sheila Excell, and depicts the war memorial shown above [Steve McAnespie.]

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Rolex Panerai. In 1860 Giovanni Panerai (1825-1897) established his first Watch Shop.

​ Rebooting a WW2 RolexA broken watch picked up at a car boot sale for £10 has sold for more than £55,000 after it turned out to be a rare Rolex, issued to Italian navy divers in WW2.

The Rolex Panerai wristwatch, was found in a chest of drawers by the son of the late purchaser, while clearing out his house.

The large watch was without a strap and the wind-up mechanism [mechanical movement]didn’t work properly. When the vendor consigned it for sale at auction he was pleased with the pre-sale estimate price of £500. He was so stunned with the final hammer price of £46,000 that he had to ask auctioneer Niall Williams to repeat the figure three times when told the news over the phone. With all the fees added on the total price paid by the winning bidder was £55,660.

The timepiece was only one of 618 Rolex, 17 'Rubis' [17 jewels - see picture below] Panerai 3636 [calibre number.] These particular watches were made between 1941 to 1943. They were made by Italian watchmaker Panerai but used Rolex movements and were waterproof, with an oversized [dial] [which enabled better visibility in the dark, and of course underwater.]

Note the Ruby coloured jewels above (which are the hard bearing surfaces for the pivots of the wheels.) This causes less friction and indicates a higher quality of movement.

They were supplied to the Royal Italian Navy and used by divers operating 'human torpedoes' [missiles that were able to be ridden] and had a detachable warhead which could be used as a timed limpet mine against enemy ships. The divers could only operate the torpedo craft at night, hence the watches had luminous dials and digits.

It is [possible] this watch was collected as a souvenir by a British servicemen at the end of the war and brought back to Britain. It turned up at a car boot sale in the north west of England where it was bought by the former owner between 10 and 20 years ago. It was sold by auctioneers Wright Marshall of Cheshire. Mr Williams, of Wright Marshall, said: “They are quite a rare watch and most of them were engraved by their owners but this one wasn’t. “It came to us on a valuation day by a chap with it in his pocket. “It was his father’s watch who had died and he had found it in his chest of drawers. “He said his father bought it at a car boot sale 10 or 20 years ago and paid no more than £10 for it.

​“The wind-up mechanism didn’t work properly and so wasn’t in perfect condition. “But we had a lot of interest in it and 10 phone lines taken up by bidders. “When I told the vendor afterwards it sold for £46,000 he thought I had said £4,000 to £6,000 and had to repeat it three times before he believed me. “I think it is a considerable amount of money for him. It is a remarkable result.”

This well loved family 'Colonial' Dial Clock, dates from the middle of the 19th Century. It previously belonged to the parents of Mr D Hill, of Kernow, who kindly provided the picture and the following information;

'[The Clock] is from my Farmhouse Tree, the childhood name of my old farm at East Knowstone, originally from my parents' bedroom. It is an 8 day' [requires winding once a week.]

Mr Hill is uncertain if the Clock was manufactured by the American Company 'Ansonia'; however, we believe it to be of such type.

The Ansonia Clock Company;was a leading 19th century American clock manufacturers. It produced millions of clocks in the period between 1850, its year of incorporation, and 1929.

In 1914 the company was at its height. More than 440 different clock models were available. In addition to a huge domestic sales volume, clocks were exported in large quantities to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India and many other countries.

Despite such success, b﻿etween﻿ 1915 to 1920, the volume of sales dropped as the effects of WWI and stiff competition from other clock companies began to take their toll. In the early 1900's Ansonia's line of novelty clocks became their biggest sellers. However, as competition for the novelty clock market grew ever stronger, the company attempted to maintain their market share by undercutting their competitors' prices. This strategy proved financially disastrous. By failing to maintain a realistic profit margin the company took on increasing debt, and failing to curb the competition they were no longer able to manage - in a niche they once dominated.

Mr Hill has published a fascinating book called 'The Farmhouse Tree' based on his childhood memories and experiences. It contains some intriguing stories relating to the 'Guiness Clock' towering over the Paignton, Devon promenade. They have also been published in the 'WESTERN MORNING NEWS' over the past few years. For more information visit; farmhousetree.blogspot.com

Aloha Time!

Above; The Aloha Clock Tower; it is one of the biggest clocks in the Territory of Hawaii, and one of the largest in the United States. It is in fact a lighthouse, and is rightly considered one of Hawaii's landmarks. It was opened on September 11, 1926. When the attack on Pearl Harbor came on December 7, 1941, Coast Guardsmen from the USCGC Taney were ordered to take up defensive positions around Aloha Tower and protect it from being occupied. The Tower was painted in camouflage so as to disappear at night. The Clock is reputedly manufactured by the E. Howard Clock Company of Boston. The seven ton clock movement is still weight driven and has not been converted. With the exception of brief periods in 1984 when the weight fell and the clock was damaged it appears to have kept immaculate time. The kind contributor of this image, Keith (Twitter @Son_of_Sandor) informs us that, the view from the top of the tower was his 'Australian Mother's first view of the United States as a War Bride'! The image on the right shows Keith's Mother with his elder brother (Alexander @abbalogh) at Joint Base, Pearl Harbor, Hickam, Hawaii. Note the international times displayed.

The images above are also kindly provided by Keith. The left image shows his Father and captures a wonderful moment in time. The central image shows the Hickam Air Base with its clock recording the time and moment, and on the left of the image in the distance B-18 Bolos can be seen. On the right above; a typical example of a B18 Bolo Bomber Aircraft in more detail.

'A Dead Man Returns'

This is a picture of my maternal Grandfather, Tommy Cooper (6 January 1913 - 6 January 1987 ). The left image is his trench watch that belonged to him during World War 2. It is fitted with a shrapnel/mesh guard to protect the dial. It has the usual patent 'Brev' mark on the guard near the winding crown on the right.

My Grandfather was a prisoner of the Japanese army from, I understand,1940 - 1945, and was instrumental in building the Bridge over the River Kwai. He was presumed dead by the War Office, until he turned up in late 1945. His reappearance was covered by the media who referred to him as - a dead man returns!

The 1/5th Battalion was a 1st-Line Territorial Army Battalion originally serving with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division until 1940 when it was assigned to the 18th (Anglian) Infantry Division. The battalion (along with the rest of the 18th Division) was posted to Malaya to defend the peninsula and the island of Singapore against the Japanese. After Singapore fell to the Japanese, my Grandfather and the rest of the battalion's men, were among the thousands of Prisoners of war sent to work on the infamous Burma Railway.

I understand my Grandfather was in France initially, then sent back to England, from where he was deployed to the Far East and Singapore. Upon his capture, he suffered terribly at the hands of the Japanese Army. He was driven to eating the bugs that were found in the rice he was given (as a form of protein.) He was covered in lacerations from being hit with bamboo shoots. He believes he only survived these wounds by entering the River Kwai to enable the fish to eat the decayed and diseased sores on his skin.

Upon his homecoming after the war, known as the 'dead man returning' and having been believed to have been killed in action, he was sent to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Liverpool. Many years later in 1985 further tests by the doctors revealed a large tape worm had been making itself at home in him since the war!

He was unable to work indoors after returning from the war, and took up work as a postman. Ironically, during his time in the PoW camp, his wife Lizzie was working on the Railways in Hyde, Cheshire, England (on the night shift). My Grandmother Lizzie took in 4 evacuees during the war.

Granddad died peacefully in his sleep on 6 January 1987 (the night of his birthday) Always remembered.Cathy McAnespie.

A Memorial Tower for the Sherwood Foresters Regiment, was erected in 1923 at the summit of Crich Hill in Derbyshire, England. Built on the site of an older tower called Crich Stand, the Memorial Tower is the destination of an annual pilgrimage on the first Sunday in July. It is 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, and has 52 steps to the top. From there eight counties can be seen, including landmarks such as the Humber Bridge and Lincoln Cathedral.

n.b. men from the 12th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, produced the 'Wipers Times'.

Right; My Grandfather's Prisoner of War army identification tags, otherwise known - somewhat unkindly - as 'dog tags', detailing his number, name and denomination.

By 1915 the British Army required all soldiers to wear two official tags, both made of compressed fibre (which were more comfortable to wear in hot climates) carrying identical details, impressed by an imprinting machine, one character at a time.The tags, one an octagonal green tag, punched with two holes for cords, the other, a red circular tag punched once, were suspended from the serviceman's neck using cord resembling butcher's twine, being passed through one hole in the octagonal green tag. A much shorter cord was used to link the two tags, which could be easily separated by cutting.

​

Another image of my Grandfather's watch detailing the strap and buckle.

This is a sketch by the artist and illustrator Ronald Searle, depicting one of his horrific experiences as a prisoner of war after being captured by the Japanese Circa 1943. He was alongside my Grandfather, and they were both involved in building the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. (Cathy McAnespie).

Another example of the appalling conditions my Grandfather and many others suffered throughout his time as a PoW in Singapore. Sketched by Ronald Searle, and depicts 'Ward 5' at the Changi camp during October 1943. His drawings were hidden from the Japanese guards and recovered when the camp was liberated in 1945. Many more of his drawings can be found in his book 'To the Kwai and Back: War Drawings 1939-45' (1986).Courtesy of Imperial War Museum http://www.iwm.org.uk/

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My Uncle Den... (A Tribute to Another Quiet Hero)

This is a picture of my wonderful and funny Uncle Dennis Proctor, who sadly passed away very recently.

Although not generally a quiet man - especially when he was attempting to galvanise his troops as a Sergeant in the transport corps, during his army career - Den, like so many others, was very reticent when it came to talking about his time with the army. So, it is up to the rest of us to shout about it, and preserve his - and all of our heroes' legacies​​.

Den travelled extensively while with the transport corps, and we are hoping to put together his stories and anecdotes, and pictures of his timepieces to be added to this site over the coming weeks. However; we just felt he should be commemorated within this site ahead of Remembrance Sunday 2015.

Thank you Uncle Den, Remembered Always.​​

My Uncle Den very much missed but always Remembered. 9 April 1938-
25 October 2015

Her Majesty the Queen was present at St Martin in the Fields, on 15 August 2015. It was a significant day for my family and many, many people who were remembering their loved ones who lost their lives, or were Prisoners of War like my Grandfather -above- during WW2 [Cathy].

The following is a truly inspiring story of a family committed against the odds to undertaking and practicing their beliefs in the face of overwhelming adversity and tragedy.

'In 1837, horologist Willem ten Boom opened a clock shop. 'Dedicated Christians', the family home above the shop, was always an "open house" for anyone in need.

After an inspiring Dutch Reformed worship service in 1844, Willem started a weekly prayer service to pray for the Jewish people and the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). His son Casper continued the tradition of prayer with his own family. These prayer meetings continued for 100 years-until February 28, 1944, when Nazi soldiers arrested Casper and his entire family for harboring Jews.

During World War II, the ten Booms lived out their Christian faith by making their home a refuge--a hiding place--for Jews and members of the Dutch underground who were being hunted by the Nazis.

The Ten Boom Clock Shop, and Museum, Haarlem, Holland.

During 1943 and into 1944, there were usually as many as seven people illegally living in the ten Boom home--Jews and members of the Dutch underground. Additional refugees would stay with the ten Booms for a few hours or a few days until another "safe house" could be located for them. Corrie Ten Boom (seen far left in the image below) became a ringleader within the network of the Haarlem underground.

Corrie and "the Beje group" would search for courageous Dutch families who would take in refugees, and much of Corrie's time was spent caring for these people once they were in hiding. Through these activities, the ten Boom family and their many friends saved the lives of an estimated 800 Jews, and protected many Dutch underground workers.

Secret wall revealing the hiding place where the Ten Booms hid many Jews and Dutch Underground members. [Taken on a recent trip to Haarlem]

On February 28, 1944, Casper's family was betrayed, and the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police) raided their home. The Gestapo set a trap and waited throughout the day, seizing everyone who came to the house. By evening, over 20 people had been taken into custody! Casper, Corrie, and Betsie were all arrested. Corrie's brother Willem, sister Nollie, and nephew Peter were at the house that day, and were also taken to prison. Although the Gestapo systematically searched the house, they could not find the two Jewish men, two Jewish women, and two members of the Dutch underground who were safely hidden behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom (see image left). Although the house remained under guard, the Resistance was able to liberate the refugees two days later. The six people had managed to stay quiet in their small, dark hiding place, even though they had no water and very little food. The four Jews were taken to new "safe houses," and three survived the war. One of the underground workers was killed during the war years, but the other survived. Because Nazi soldiers found underground materials and extra ration cards in their home, the ten Boom family was imprisoned. Casper (84 years old) died after only 10 days in Scheveningen Prison. When Casper was asked if he knew he could die for helping Jews, he replied, "It would be an honor to give my life for God's ancient people."

Corrie and Betsie spent 10 months in three different prisons, the last being the infamous Ravensbruck concentration camp located near Berlin, Germany. Life in the camp was almost unbearable, but Corrie and Betsie spent their time sharing Jesus' love with their fellow prisoners. Many women became Christians in that terrible place because of Corrie and Betsie's witness to them. Betsie (59) died in Ravensbruck, but Corrie survived. Corrie's nephew, Christiaan (24), had been sent to Bergen Belsen for his work in the underground. He did not return. Corrie's brother, Willem (60), was also a ring leader in the Dutch underground. While in prison for this "crime," he contracted spinal tuberculosis and died shortly after the war.

During a trip to Amsterdam, we made a special visit to the Ten Boom house on 19 September 2015. The shop itself is still a thriving horologists and jewellers. We received the most friendly and gracious welcome.

Having told them that I was a fellow female horologist, they allowed us to take some pictures including this little hideaway in the bottom of the staircase [image right]. The family hid 'stolen' ration cards there, in order to feed the people they were hiding [Cathy.]

We are contacting the administrator of their website, and will be updating with further images as soon as we get permission.

Four ten Booms gave their lives for this family's commitment, but Corrie came home from the death camp. She realized her life was a gift from God, and she needed to share what she and Betsie had learned in Ravensbruck: "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still," and "God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies." At age 53, Corrie began a worldwide ministry that took her into more than 60 countries in the next 32 years! She testified to God's love and encouraged all she met with the message that "Jesus is Victor." Corrie received many tributes because of her efforts.

Following the war, Corrie was honored by the Queen of Holland as a War Hero. It is understood that Corrie was the first licensed female watchmaker. In 1968, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem asked Corrie to plant a tree in the Garden of Righteousness, in honor of the many Jewish lives her family saved. Corrie's tree stands there today.

In the early 1970's, Corrie's book The Hiding Place became a best seller, and World Wide Pictures (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) released the major motion picture "The Hiding Place." Corrie went on to write many other inspiring books. There are five evangelical videos about Corrie. Corrie died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. It is interesting that Corrie's passing occurred on her birthday. In the Jewish tradition, it is only very blessed people who are allowed the special privilege of dying on their birthday!'

With very kind thanks to the ten Boom family. Read more about this uplifting story and family at; http://tenboom.org

The imposing Ten Boom Clock Shop and Museum, September 2015. Still a thriving Clock and Watch retailers, jewellers and repairers.

﻿ Resistance is Never Futile﻿

This stirring image depicts the bell at the Waalsdorpervlakte in The Hague, Holland.

It is rung during the commemorations for all those souls lost during and since WW2, especially those of the Dutch Resistance whose number was depleted by some 250, killed by the Nazis, during WW2.

There are special commemorative services on May 4th (the eve of the day of liberation from the Germans) each year for the 'Remembrance of the Dead' of WW2 and other conflicts.

Regrettably, we do not have his military watch but his medals and prayer book are exhibited left. His mother sent him the prayer book while he was serving in Cologne during WW1.

In WW2, he was initially in the Home Guard but then joined 'Air Traffic Control' and was stationed at Whithorn in Scotland and Wrexham, among other places to direct the fighting planes.

While he was on duty in the Home Guard in Barrow in Furness, England, a bomb was dropped on his house during an air raid. His wife and 2 children had taken shelter under the dining table and we believe this must have saved their lives, as the house was severely damaged.

One of the children was my Aunty Dorothy, the other was my Father Ray, and the dining table that saved their lives is now in my Cousin Dave's dining room!

Further details of his service during WW1 will be added as soon as available.

​Whilst researching for our website, I discovered this photo of my paternal Great Grandfather; William Halls Clarke, 4. 11. 1867 - 21. 4. 1939 & Great Grandmother Prudence Ellen Clarke 13. 2. 1869 - 15. 1. 1951. They were both high ranking members of the Salvation Army, and very much involved with the War Graves Commission [Cathy]William was born in bury St Edmunds. He had a twin sister, Annie and was one of 13 children. He was a direct convert of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. As a young man, he worked as a probation officer in London.

​He married Prudence (who was born very near us here in Torquay) after meeting at a Salvation Army Officer training course. One of the 3 children they had was my Granddad Hedley (seen above.)

​As Officers they moved every 1-3 years, moving to Wales, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Glasgow, Barrow-in-Furness and many other places.

In 1921 they worked for the War Graves Commission in Belgium. They helped many families find the graves of their loved ones killed during WW1.

Ypres:​One of William's experiences in Ypres, is often reported; A party had been sent out to collect waste ammunition, when surrounding grass suddenly caught fire and blew up a truckload of shells. The Hostel where William was staying had all its windows shattered and doors blown off their hinges. Fortunately, no casualties were reported on that particular occasion. ​With grateful thanks to my Aunty Dot for providing this information.

Ottery St Mary Church. A Devon town remembering its War Heroes

A recent visit to the beautiful town of Ottery St Mary, Devon, England, revealed a gem of a Church, set within the heart of the town.

St Mary's Church is also known as 'the little Exeter Cathedral'. The memorial shown on the right commemorates those fallen in both world wars and reads.

'IN MEMORY OF THE MEN FROM THIS PARISH WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919'

Below is an image of part of the movement which powers the 2 clock dials seen in the image right.

Above left; the movement powering the turret clock of St Mary's Church in Ottery St Mary. Above right; the south transept bell tower houses the fantastical astronomical clock which is one of the oldest surviving mechanical clocks in the country.

A moving and fitting tribute to all those Ottery men who 'made the great sacrifice' during WW1 is permanently on display in front of one of the magnificent stained glass windows within St Mary's.

A propeller has been crafted into a striking (in both senses of the word) mantel clock.

Trench Art Propeller Clock Commemorates WW1 Scottish Flying Ace

On a recent visit to Callendar, Falkirk in Scotland, we visited Callendar House which exhibits this fascinating piece of original 'Trench Art' presented to Captain James Fitz-Morris (6 April 1897 - 14 August 1918) Military Cross and Bar. Captain Fitzmorris was a British, World War 1 flying ace, credited with 14 aerial victories. Archives record his name in various spellings but the one recorded at Callendar House we understand is the more correct. Cathy McAnespie.

Captain Fitz-Morris joined '25 Squadron' in July 1917, flying the Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2d and then the Airco DH.4 bomber, claiming with his gunner David Luther Burgess some 7 aircraft shot down during July and August. They were both awarded the Military Cross for their deeds, Fitz-Morris's being gazetted on 9 January 1918.He then became a flight commander in 23 Squadron, flying the SPAD from early 1918 onward, winning the bar to the MC on 22 June 1918 by downing 7 enemy planes during March 1918. He was slightly wounded in his final engagement, on 24 March 1918, and grounded for a few days. He did not score again after his return to flying.

Captain James Fitz-Morris ( 6 April 1897 - 14 August 1918 )

Morris was then sent out to the British War Mission in Washington, DC, as an instructor to the United States Air Service.

His final tally was 1 aircraft captured, 5 set afire, 4 more otherwise destroyed (including 1 shared), and 4 others driven down 'out of control'. At the age of just 21, he was killed in an accident flying a Sopwith Camel in Cincinnati Ohio USA on August 14, 1918. Captain Fitzmorris landed at the Western Hills Country Club along with two other British aviators. Upon take off his engine suddenly died and the plane plunged to the ground.

His body was taken to Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati and then sent to Pittsburgh on September 5, 1918. Regarded as a local hero, his hometown of Polmont in Scotland was in mourning following his tragic demise.

His father had great difficulty in persuading the American authorities to return his body. After more than a year, his funeral was finally held in November 1919, with more than a thousand people believed to have paid their respects on the day.

Air combat manoeuvring is the art of manoeuvring a combat aircraft in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. It relies on offensive and defensive basic fighter manoeuvring in order to gain an advantage over an aerial opponent.

Military aviation appeared in World War I where aircraft were initially used to spot enemy troop concentrations, field gun positions and movements. Early aerial combat consisted of aviators shooting at one another with hand held weapons. The need to stop reconnaissance by enemy aircraft rapidly led to the development of fighter planes, a class of aircraft designed specifically to destroy enemy aircraft.

Pilots achieved firing position while avoiding the threat of enemy guns by manoeuvring behind the enemy aircraft. This is known as getting on an aircraft's six o'clock or tail, plus a wide variety of other terms, usually coined by air crews. This type of combat became known as dogfighting. Oswald Boelcke, a German fighter ace during World War I, was reputedly the first to publish the basic rules for aerial combat manoeuvring in 1916, known as the 'Dicta Boelcke'.

1949 American war film poster depicting the US Army's 8th Air Force

Boelcke advised pilots to attack from the direction of the sun (toward which the defending pilot could not see), or to fly at a higher altitude than the opponent.

The poster above portrays the 1949 film 'Twelve o' Clock High'. It is an American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's 8th Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King and Beirne Lay, Jr. from the 1948 novel 12 O'Clock High, also by Bartlett and Lay. The phrase refers to the practice of calling out the positions of attacking enemy aircraft by reference to an imaginary clock face, with the bomber at the centre. The terms "high" (above the bomber), "level" (at the same altitude as the bomber) and "low" (below the bomber) further refine the location of the enemy. Thus "twelve o'clock high" meant the attacker was approaching from directly ahead and above. This location was preferred by German fighter pilots because, until the introduction of the 'Bendix chin turret' in the B-17G model, the nose of the B-17 was the most lightly armed and vulnerable part of the bomber. Enemy fighter aircraft diving from above were also more difficult targets for the B-17 gunners due to their high closing speeds. Bartlett’s wife, actress Ellen Drew, is believed to have named the story after hearing Bartlett and Lay discuss German fighter tactics, which usually involved head-on attacks from "twelve o’clock high".

In Britain during WW2 use of the 'clock dial positioning' was prevalent throughout the 'Battle of Britain'. This conflict utilised the Royal Air Force's aerial tactics to their maximum capabilities in their Hawker Hurricane and 'Supermarine' Spitfire fighters (image right). The battle began in mid-July and, initially, the Luftwaffe concentrated on attacking shipping in the English Channel and attacking coastal towns and defences. From 12 August, Hermann Goering, the leader of the Luftwaffe, shifted his focus to the destruction of the RAF, attacking airfields and radar bases. Convinced that Fighter Command was now close to defeat, he also tried to force air battles between fighter planes to definitively weaken British strength and resolve. However, Goering grew frustrated by the large number of British planes that were still repelling the attacks. On 4 September, the Luftwaffe switched tactics again and, on Hitler's orders, set about destroying London and other major cities.

Eleven days later, on what became known as 'Battle of Britain Day', the RAF savaged the huge incoming Luftwaffe formations in the skies above London and the south coast. It became clear to Hitler that his air force had failed to gain air superiority so, on 17 September, he postponed his plans to invade Britain. His attention was now focused on the invasion of the Soviet Union, although the Luftwaffe continued to bomb Britain until the end of the war.

Many of the tactics used during the battle were Boelcke's concepts, conceived in 1916. They are still applicable today, including use of sun and altitude, surprise attack, and turning to meet a threat.

Working Part Time

The following is a report by Cynthia Lambert of the Tribune News based in San luis Obispo, California, United States of America. It relates the moving story of how parts of a watch found in Germany during WW2 were traced to the owner's family. 'United States Air Force Sgt. Donal Laird, 20, was killed in a plane crash during WW2. Parts of his watch were found in Germany in 1944, and volunteers recently tracked down Laird's family in San Luis Obispo so the fragments could be returned. For years after the B-17 bomber went down on Sept. 9, 1944, carrying U.S. Air Force Sgt. Donal H. Laird and eight other airmen, Ruth Laird typed letters to various military officials seeking information about her son. Laird, a San Luis Obispo High School graduate, was reported missing in action over Germany, according to a letter Ruth Laird received from the War Department dated Sept. 23, 1944. Then, on April 16, 1945, another letter arrived with more information: Donal Laird, a ball turret gunner on “Strictly G.I.” of the 91st Bomb Group/323rd Bomb Squadron, was flying its first mission over Ludwigshafen, Germany, when it dropped out of formation on the return trip. Four of the crew members survived and were taken prisoners of war. Five others, including Donal Laird, did not. Ruth Laird kept writing, trying to find more information.Today, the letters are yellowing and growing brittle with age. Lori Laird-Allen, one of Ruth’s granddaughters, keeps them carefully tucked away in plastic bags at her San Luis Obispo home.In a 1948 letter to a brigadier general, Ruth Laird wrote that parents of the other airmen killed in action had been told their sons’ bodies were identified in Germany and moved to another cemetery in Belgium. It’s unclear if she ever got a response. Even after the family held a full military memorial service for him in 1950, there was a sense that Ruth Laird never really had closure. “They said they found his dog tags, and that’s all I’ve ever been told,” Laird-Allen said.

Several weeks ago, Uwe Benkel was searching for a missing German aircraft around Hassloch, near Ludwigshafen. Benkel is a member of Search Group for the Missing, which researches missing aircraft and their pilots from World War II. So far, the group has recovered the remains of more than 140 aircraft and 45 missing crewmembers, he said in an email.During their work in Hassloch, the group was given fragments of a gold watch that had been found in 1944 next to the body of a crewmember near a downed aircraft.On the back, it was engraved: “Donal Laird 1940.” Benkel put out a message on a [family history site]. “For our group it is very important to give those personal items back to the families,” Benkel said. “It is like bringing back something from the past. And it is also important for the families to know what happened back then. Most of the relatives (know) little of what happened.” Debby Potter, who lives in Kansas, saw Benkel’s message on Facebook and decided to help. “It didn’t take very long before we knew that Donal had a brother, that that brother had passed away and the brother had living children,” Potter said in a phone interview. “That was easy. It was finding the living children that was difficult.” Above; 3rd from left, Donal Laird with his B-17 crew that crashed in 1944 in Germany.

On [a family history site] Potter found a family tree with the Laird line included. She sent a message to the creator of the family tree. On March 25, Laird-Allen got an email from a niece. “I got a funny message today on my Ancestry account from somebody talking about Lori’s family line,” the email read. “I don’t know if you know anything about how a family watch would have wound up in Germany.” Potter had left her number. Laird-Allen dialed it. “We were both crying on the phone,” Laird-Allen recalled. “I just had chills.” On Tuesday, Laird-Allen and her sister, Tammi Laird-Menezes, stood in front of their uncle’s marker at San Luis Cemetery. Donal Laird was just 17 when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. He enlisted the following April, after he turned 18. “I never met him, but I heard he was the sweetest person,” Laird-Allen said. “I know he was a Boy Scout. He had a paper route.” Her grandmother, Ruth Laird, moved to Indiana in 1944 to be closer to her husband, Harry Laird, who had served in the Army in World War I and rejoined the service during WWII. The family, including Donal’s younger brother Edgar, moved back to San Luis Obispo after Harry Laird was released from the service in 1945. Edgar Laird remained in San Luis Obispo, where he opened Cuesta Realty and had four daughters.

Harry Laird died in 1979, followed four years later by his son, Edgar. Ruth Laird died in 1999, leaving trunks full of memories of a son who loved airplanes. “When he was a little boy, he drew planes. He wrote poems about flying,” Laird-Menezes said. Laird-Allen recalled traveling several times to Europe with her grandmother.

One time, they took a boat trip down the Rhine River, near Hassloch. Another time, they went to Belgium. “She made sure we went there, but she never said anything — I think she was researching,” Laird-Allen recalled. “I know my grandmother was really lost without him.”

Soon, Laird-Allen and her sisters will have another piece of the puzzle, one more answer about what happened to their uncle 71 years ago: The watch is in the mail.'

This image of the cockpit of a Gazelle helicopter, XX436, (nick-named 'Gordon') has been kindly provided by Sue and Adrian, during a visit to the Yeovilton 'Westland 100' display.

Gordon makes up part of the Gazelle Squadron Display Team. According to their - well worth a visit -website; http://www.thegazellesquadron.com/ 'The Gazelle Squadron is a unique team of ex-British Military Gazelle helicopters in their original military colours and with their original military registrations.

The core team includes four Gazelles, one from each service; The Royal Navy, The Royal Marines, The Army Air Corps and The Royal Air Force. A fifth Gazelle; Gordon (XX436) [left] has just joined the Team and will be touring with Ginger this summer until Gary comes online! Gavin will be next online, then Gladys and lastly Grant. Gloria (RAF VIP) and Glenda (Army BATUS) will also be joining the Team in the not too distant future!

Initially the RAF and Army aircraft will appear as static pair at airshows with the four ship flying display coming in 2015. We are presently rebuilding the other aircraft and seeking sponsorship to cover the costs of putting the show on the road and working up the full flying display.'

A handsome profile of Gordon

A Race Against TimeAlan Turing; Man, Machine, Enigma.

Dr Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) Probably the greatest and most influential contributor to shortening the length of WW2 [by up to 2 years] thereby reputedly saving up to 14 million lives.

It is generally agreed that had the bombing raids by the German Navy against British fleets bringing food supplies from America not been stopped (or at least radically disrupted) Britain would have eventually starved to death during WW2.

The race against time to crack a code, and therefore frustrate the attacks on our supply line fleets, is outlined here, and the following information is from the excellent website of Mr Andrew Hodges;

'Born in London on 23rd June 1912, the young Alan Turing had a precocious talent for science and mathematics. He studied at King’s College, Cambridge University then Princeton University, New Jersey, USA before publishing his ground-breaking theories on the ‘Turing Machine’ and ‘Universal Turing Machine’ in 1936 – concepts which can today be thought of as a computer program and a modern computer.

During World War II Turing worked secretly [situated in innocuous looking pre-fabricated wooden huts [mainly hut 6 and 8] for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, England. There he and his team cracked the German Enigma system – in particular deciphering German U-boat messages and so contributing greatly to the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic. Turing was later awarded an OBE for his code-breaking work.

Alan Turing a World Class Marathon Runner

The Enigma Machine

Enigma was invented by the German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of WW1. Most German communications - undoubtedly those responsible for the bombings of supply ships - were enciphered on the Enigma cipher machine. It was based on rotors whose movement produced ever-changing alphabetic substitutions. In its military use, the basic machine was greatly enhanced by a plugboard, visible on the front of the machine.

The ciphers it produced were supposed to be unbreakable even by someone in possession of the machine. Ideas of great logical ingenuity were needed to defeat it. The machine was capable of giving 159 million million million possible settings to choose from.

In fact, the Enigma had to be broken repeatedly, and the race against time ensued day upon day, as the code was reset by at midnight each day. Possession alone of the Enigma machine did not allow Enigma messages to be read and decoded. The German use of the Enigma depended on systems for setting the keys for each message transmitted, and it was these key-systems that had to be broken. There were many such systems, often changing, and the hardware was changed as well from time to time. The brilliant pre-war work by Polish mathematicians enabled them to read Enigma messages on the simplest key-systems. The information they gave to Britain and France in 1939 may have been crucial, but it was not sufficient for the continuation and extension of Enigma breaking over the next six years. New ideas were essential.

In late 1939, Alan Turing and another Cambridge mathematician,Gordon Welchman, designed a new machine, the British 'Bombe'. The basic property of the Bombe was that it could break any Enigma-enciphered message, provided that the hardware of the Enigma was known and that a plain-text 'crib' of about 20 letters could be guessed accurately.

The technology used within Alan Turing's Bombe [shown left] is outwith the scope of this archive but for a full explanation into this, please visit; Tony Sale's site. This gives a full technical description and explanation of the machine and its use. It also offers a 'Virtual Bletchley Park' area with a page detailing his explanation of how Turing arrived at the idea of the Bombe, and another about the Polish breaking of the Enigma which preceded it. It includes an on-line simulator of the Bombe, and much more historical information.

Another 'clear' explanation of the principle of the Bombe is given by Graham Ellsbury on his Enigma pages.

The Bombes were built by British Tabulating Machinery at their factory in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The first was in use by May 1940 and breaking German Air Force messages. It was called (with an optimism unjustified by current events) Victory. The second arrived in August, It was called Agnus Dei, the extraordinary choice of name being ascribed to Turing. (He might well have remarked that it would be an effective way of taking away the sins of the world.)

The Bombe was used with success from the summer of 1940 onward, to break messages enciphered on the simpler Enigma system used by the German Air Force. But the most important messages were those to and from the U-Boat fleet, and these were enciphered on a much more secure Enigma system. Turing took on this problem, going against the prevailing view that it would prove unbreakable.

These are some of the main people with whom Alan Turing worked.

Before the war, his 'boss' was old-timer Dillwyn Knox. Peter Twinn joined in early 1939.

Alan Turing recruited Shaun Wylie as a fellow graduate student from his Princeton days. Joan Clarke was brought in by Gordon Welchman, when she finished her Cambridge fourth year in mathematics. She became Alan Turing's closest friend, and in early 1941 he proposed marriage to her, which she accepted. Immediately, however; he told her of his 'homosexual tendencies', and the engagement ended in August 1941: he quoted 'Yet each man kills the thing he loves' from Oscar Wilde. His confidences to her showed that the refugee boy Bob was on his mind - Bob being an Austrian refugee who he had helped seek asylum in Britain. His friend Fred Clayton had written a fictionalised account of how the connection with the refugees had come about, and he gave this to Joan as a way of airing the subject of his sexuality. After 1942 he had less to do with Hut Eight - in which he worked on the Naval Enigma - and was most friendly with Donald Michie, who joined Bletchley Park in 1943.

The breaking of the Enigma ciphers also saved countless lives during the Blitz by predicting which cities the German bombers would attack, allowing the RAF to lie in wait for them, and the authorities to ensure people were in shelters in good time.

Alan Turing tragically committed suicide in 1954 but his genius and legacy live on, and still influences much of our day to day lives.

This superb (and still vibrant) image of the old 'Cloth Hall' clock dial which once proudly overlooked Ypres in Belgium, has been kindly contributed by Matthew Ward @HistoryNeedsYou The dial bears the coat of arms of Ypres.

The Cloth Hall is a mediaeval commercial building. It was one of the largest commercial buildings during the Middle Ages, when it served as the main market and warehouse for the Flemish city's prosperous cloth industry. The original structure, erected mainly in the 13th century and completed 1304, lay in ruins after artillery fire devastated Ypres during WW1 (if you look closely you can see the scars of conflict on the clock dial.

First Battle of Ypres (19th October - 22nd November 1914). German artillery fired onto the city from its artillery positions in the north-east, east and south-east of the newly formed Ypres Salient. On 22nd November 1914 the Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) was set on fire by a German incendiary shell. A few months later in the spring of 1915 an intensive German bombardment commenced on the town. This was carried out by long range, heavy German artillery, which included a huge 42cm howitzer. This gun was nicknamed “Dicke Bertha” (which translates into English as big or fat Bertha) by the German Army. Consequently the gun became known as “Big Bertha” to the British Army. The bombardment was the prelude to the launch of a German chlorine gas attack on the Allied front line in the Ypres Salient on 22nd April 1915. This was the beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres. British soldiers often pronounced Ypres as 'Wipers'.

The Lakenhalle as it now stands. The campanile - bell tower - with all four clock dials has been magnificently restored.

Every evening since 1928 (except for a period during the Second World War when Ypres was occupied by Germany), at precisely eight o'clock, traffic around the imposing arches of the Menin Gate Memorial has been stopped while the Last Post is sounded beneath the Gate by the local fire brigade. This tribute is given in honour of the memory of British Empire soldiers who fought and died there.

Beautiful image of sunset at the Lakenhalle in Ypres, from ‏Andrew Holmes @agh57 as seen 29 August 2015

Plane Writing

A WW1 battlefield letter from a Canadian soldier written on aeroplane wing fabric to his young daughter is part of an exhibit marking the centenary of the start of the First World War. 2 pocket watches were also taken from the plane.

The letter by Sgt. Edward Iley is exhibited at Calgary's The Military Museums and is written on the fabric from the wing of a German aircraft Sgt. Edward's unit shot down. The letter was written to his daughter Bernice from Cambrai, France, in 1918.

" March 12, 1918, I got this on the Cambrai front off a German plane that came down,"

"Hoping the war is over soon and that (I) will soon be able to come home. Be a good little girl and be good to mama for dada's sake."

Iley's great-grandson, University of Calgary student Michael Hilton, said his brother found the letter tucked away in a Tupperware container. Michael decided to do a research project and took the fabric scrap to the University of Calgary's library and archives at The Military Museums. Staff there used documents and war diaries to help him research his great-grandfather's unit, the Canadian 12th Railroad Division.

The unit was constantly exposed to bombs and gunfire while working on top of the trenches to build light railway tracks over the mud to pull supplies to the front and bring the injured back. Michael informed "They were on top of the trenches and laying track and moving equipment back and forth to the soldiers inside the trenches". "It was very common that airplanes would fly over and drop bombs on them. They shot the plane down and then, when the plane came down, they cut the fabric and he took two pocket watches, one from the pilot and one from the co-pilot, and sent them home as souvenirs."

Experts appear to agree that many soldiers wrote letters on the fabric from airplane wings, but Hilton's research turned up only two others in the world — one in Australia and one in France [also see; www.collectorsweekly.com/stories]

"What makes the letter special is the connection that it shows between the men on the front lines and their families back home," said Rory Cory, senior curator at The Military Museums. "In the end, this is what really kept them going — and, in fact, what still keeps them going today — knowing they have people at home who support and love them."

Sgt. Iley's great-grandson said he has been able to identify one of the dead German soldiers, Fredrick Schoening, but has been unable to find any contact information since most military records were destroyed during the Second World War. He said his great-grandfather spoke very little about his wartime experiences, so the letter has given Hilton a connection to the past. "That part really hit home to me that he signed up, he volunteered to go in a very dangerous position," he said. "He left behind a young wife and two very young daughters. It's very touching that someone would put their life on the line."

The letter, pocket watch and more than 300 artifacts relating to the First World War go on public display Monday as part of the exhibition Wild Rose Overseas: Albertans in the Great War.

Noteworthy artifacts include pieces of the Red Baron's plane and audio interviews with First World War veterans.

The Story of Just One of Our Brave SAS 'D Day' Heroes (by his friend Mr Ian (Nobby) Clark of Norfolk, England).

Arthur Leonard Wood was born in Norwich on April 19 1921 and went to Thorpe Hamlet School. He left school at 14 to join a company of aircraft manufacturers as an electrical plater. He served in the 70th Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment before transferring to the Royal Corps of Signals.

After training in wireless work, Wood was posted to GHQ Liaison Regiment. He learned how to drive a pick-up truck at Cliveden, the Astor family seat, and accompanied F Squadron on combined operations training, practising beach landings with suitcase radio sets and climbing mountains with heavy wireless telegraphy equipment.

Arthur Leonard Wood. Seen above left, wearing his Red Beret and with his service military issue watch. The original strap has been reenforced with a more substantial one.

In March 1944, after a parachute course at Ringway, F Squadron came under the command of SAS Brigade and became known as SAS Phantom. He was dropped with a Phantom patrol into Occupied France on D-Day + 4.

On the night of June 10 1944, Wood, then a corporal, together with his patrol officer and three wireless operators, all members of SAS Phantom, took off for France from Fairford airfield, Gloucestershire. With them on Operation Houndsworth was a small advance reconnaissance party from A Squadron 1 SAS Regiment, led by Major Bill Fraser, and an SOE colonel.

Their mission was to impede German troop movements, disrupt their communications and prevent them from moving up to Normandy to reinforce their offensive against the Allied bridgehead. The main role of 2 Patrol, commanded by Captain Tom Moore, was to help set up a base and then provide the radio link between the SAS in the field and their HQ in London.

The patrol was dropped into the Morvan mountains between Dijon and Nevers, about 150 miles south of Paris. They wore battledress and red berets, but no insignia. Low cloud obscured the dropping zone (DZ) and they were unable to see the reception committee.

On the ground, they found themselves spread out over a wide area, and it was some time before they were re-united and able to fix their exact location. When base camps and ammunition dumps in the forest had been established, the remainder of A Squadron SAS joined them.

They slept in sleeping bags on the ground and were constantly being hunted. Intelligence provided by the French underground, however, enabled them to keep a step ahead. Medical facilities for the first few weeks were very basic. Those gravely wounded who could not be evacuated were operated upon on a kitchen table by a French surgeon.

Every day, Wood and his comrades had the arduous task of decoding and encoding messages and maintaining a continuous wireless link with base HQ. At night, they arranged for supply drops. About 30 minutes before the aircraft was due, Wood moved to the DZ with his "Eureka" radar beacon...

Above, Chippy's Pocket Watch & SAS Insignia 'Who Dares Wins'.

If an aircraft flew over and he did not hear a high-pitched signal in his earphones, he let it go. When he did hear the signal, he tapped out the recognition letter in Morse. The men with him would then light a flare path with sand and petrol, and the supplies would be dropped by parachute.

On one occasion, a Frenchman in the area reported that Rommel had taken over his chateau. Major Fraser asked for permission to send in a party of SAS mounted in jeeps. Wood's task was to accompany them and lay on an air raid. He was told that, if he survived, he would certainly be given a medal but, somewhat to his relief, the operation was aborted.

In three months, the force of 18 officers and 126 soldiers blew up the main railway line 22 times. They inflicted substantial casualties on the German forces opposing them, and picked out 30 bombing targets for the RAF. An oil refinery was destroyed and many smaller targets sabotaged.

By September, the Germans had withdrawn eastwards. Wood and his comrades commandeered a number of old cars and drove to Arromanches, where they boarded a ship bound for Newhaven. Wood was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star and was mentioned in dispatches.

After Operation Houndsworth, Wood and his patrol took part in forward reconnaissance operations with 2 SAS in the Rhine crossing and the advance to Hamburg.

Wood was promoted to sergeant and went to Norway to help round up the Germans who were still there. In 1946 he was demobilised, and trained at Goldsmith's Hall before becoming head of maths and metalworking at Hewett School, Norwich.

In retirement, Wood lived in Norwich and was for many years treasurer of his local Normandy D-Day Veterans' Association.

Chippy Wood died on April 24. He married, in 1939, Mary Galey at Gretna Green (and later that year in England); she survives him, with an adopted daughter.

With special thanks to Mr Ian (Nobby) Clark, of Norwich for providing all the images and stories (all images and content copyright Mr Ian Clark. Permission must be sought prior to copying or using any content).

The Special Air Service War Diary

Its existence had been a secret for over 50 years.

June 6 2014 marked the 70th Anniversary of D Day.The Special Air Service also recently commemorated its 70th landmark year.

This unique Diary contains a fascinating insight into one of the Armed Forces most iconic and enigmatic Units.

Above; An outstanding image capturing a highly significant moment in time during the final moments of WW2 in Europe.

Soviet troops recorded on camera, setting the Martin Halisch Clock maker's store clock on Market Square in Breslau in 1945. Note the bullet hole through the clock face.

The Siege of Breslau was a 3 month siege of the city set in lower Silesia, Germany. It lasted from 13 February 1945 to 6 May 1945 - (the end of WW2 in Europe.) German troops were besieged by the Soviet forces which encircled the city as part of the 'Lower Silesian Offensive Operation' (a Sovietoffensive on the Eastern Front of World War II in 1945, involving forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front under MarshalIvan Konev). It cleared German troops from much of Lower Silesia and besieged a large German force in the provincial capital, Breslau.

The German garrison's surrender on 6 May was followed by the surrender of all German forces 2 days after the battle.

This wall clock records the moment the United States Air Force dropped the nuclear bomb 'Fat Man' onto the Japanese City of Nagasaki.

"Fat Man" was the codename for the type of atomic bomb that was detonated at 11:02 on 9 August 1945. It was the second of only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the first being 'Little Boy', and its detonation caused the third, man-made nuclear explosion.

It was dropped from the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar, named after its pilot, Captain Frederick C. Bock. For the Fat Man mission, Bockscar was piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney. The name Fat Man refers generically to the early design of the bomb, which was also known as the Mark III.

Fat Man was an implosion-type nuclear weapon with a plutonium core. The first to be detonated was the Gadget, in the Trinity nuclear test, less than a month earlier on 16 July at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range in New Mexico. This bomb was identical in most respects to the Fat Man used at Nagasaki.

In August 1945, the Fat Man was assembled on Tinian (an island South West of Saipan) by Project Alberta personnel. When the physics package was fully assembled and wired, it was placed inside its aerodynamic bombshell and wheeled out, where it was signed by nearly 60 people!

It was then wheeled to the bomb bay of the B-29 Superfortress named Bockscar after its normally assigned command pilot, Captain Frederick C. Bock,[39] who flew The Great Artiste with his crew on the mission. Bockscar was flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney and his crew, with Commander Frederick L. Ashworth from Project Alberta as the weaponeer in charge of the bomb.

The original target for the bomb was the city of Kokura, but it was found to be obscured by clouds and drifting smoke from fires started by a major firebombing raid by 224 B-29s on nearby Yawata the previous day. This covered 70% of the area over Kokura, obscuring the aiming point. Three bomb runs were made over the next 50 minutes, burning fuel and exposing the aircraft repeatedly to the heavy defences of Yawata, but the bombardier was unable to drop visually. By the time of the third bomb run, Japanese antiaircraft fire was getting close, and Second Lieutenant Jacob Beser, who was monitoring Japanese communications, reported activity on the Japanese fighter direction radio bands.

Sweeney then proceeded to the alternative target, Nagasaki. It too was obscured by cloud, and Ashworth ordered Sweeney to make a radar approach. At the last minute, the bombardier, Captain Kermit K. Beahan, found a hole in the clouds. The Fat Man was dropped, and following a 43-second duration free fall, exploded at 11:02 local time, at an altitude of about 1,650 feet (500 m).The Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, the factory that manufactured the type 91 torpedoes released in the attack on Pearl Harbour, was destroyed in the blast. Because of poor visibility due to cloud cover, the bomb missed its intended detonation point by almost two miles, and damage was somewhat less extensive than that in Hiroshima.

An estimated 40,000 people were killed outright by the bombing at Nagasaki. Thousands more died later from related blast and burn injuries, and hundreds more from radiation illnesses from exposure to the bomb's initial radiation.

Another example of this historic and terrifying moment captured in time. This clock - although showing a different time to that above - is significantly more damaged by the blast of the Nagasaki bomb.

This clock and the one above, are displayed at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in Japan.

Our thanks to M J Day @DaloDallenger and Matthew Ward @HistoryNeedsYou for supplying an image of this clock and helping us remember.

The Development and Military Importance of the Wrist Watch.

Originally wristwatches were designed for women, and it was thought by some that they were too feminine for men to wear. Indeed, the British Horological Journal writing in 1917 stated that; "the wristlet watch was little used by the sterner sex before the war [WW1] but now is seen on the wrist of nearly every man in uniform and of many men in civilian attire." However, newer entries into this archive below, appear to dispel this notion (by some 30 years!)

The first 'wristlet' (the term was a conscious effort to make the timepiece appear redolent of a piece of jewellery) was reputedly made by Swiss watch manufacturers Patek Philippe in 1868. Note the image on the right; it is a photograph taken around the start of the 20th Century. It depicts a young girl posing and showing off a wrist watch which is clearly intended to be a focal point. However, Kaiser Wilhelm ll, Emperor of Germany, had 2,000 wristwatches made for his naval officers in 1880, thereby observing that there may be some advantage to a timepiece being worn on the wrist, as opposed to the generally favoured pocket watch - prior to WW1.

This image (right) is of note; and is by kind courtesy ofhttp://angloboerwarmuseum.comItdepicts the soldier standing on the far left sporting a wrist watch Circa 1899, bound for South Africa to fight in the Boer War. This was believed to be one of the first images of a soldier wearing a wrist watch; however, see the images and articles further below, which in this ever developing archive, appear to add a different time perspective (and perception) on the matter.

On the right. An advertisement from 'Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith' publication circa 1901 taken out by the Borgzinner Brothers Ltd. Indicating the various and diverse uses of the wristlet.

This image has been kindly brought to our attention by members of the NAWCC Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania United States of America. The museum houses a major horological collection. The National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) is an American non-profit organisation founded in 1943.

The image clearly depicts an officer of the Guides Infantry wearing a wrist watch - centre of the image - believed to be circa 1879, which pre-dates any other entry so far.

This picture has apparently been authenticated by The National War Museum.

1879 British officers of the Guides Infantry 1879. Copyright National War Museum - London

It depicts soldiers of the Black Mountain 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs The Duke of Albany's) Black Mountain Expeditionary Force, 3 of whom can be seen wearing watches on both right and left wrists.

The picture is circa 1888, again dispelling the notion that it was either too feminine for a man to wear a wrist watch or that it was WW1 that 'normalised' their use.

Again, the wrist watch is the timepiece of choice, and is displayed very clearly.

The date of the first known appearance of the wrist watch during conflict notwithstanding; It was apparent that both soldiers and aviators needed a more practical, hands-free way of telling the time. Clearly the pocket watch inhibited alertness. Having to use at least one hand, glancing downward, then needing to adjust the timepiece was not the best tactical option. The trench watch overcame its feminine perception and the sartorial aesthetic of the pocket watch, and became the desired must-have timepiece.

In Knowledge for War: Every officer’s handbook for the front, published in 1916, a wristwatch was a priority in the kit list, above even a revolver and field glasses, and in the same year one manufacturer claimed that ‘one soldier in every four’ was already wearing a wristwatch ‘and the other three mean to get one as soon as they can.’ The first models had hinged covers, and often simply added lugs to existing small pocket-watches. Wristwatches were widely advertised and bought commercially, but from 1917 the War Department began to procure and issue trench watches to officers for field trials. Trench watches often had luminous dials (both an advantage and disadvantage for obvious reasons) and many models had ‘shrapnel guards’ (as seen on my Grandfather's watch in the previous entry above). The attachment felt by many soldiers to their watch should not be underestimated, and the following excerpt from an American WW1 Newspaper exemplifies this.

The military importance of the wristwatchwas captured in this essay in 'Stars and Stripes', (a newspaper produced in France during WW1 by the American Expeditionary Force) published on 15 February 1918:

‘I am the wrist watch…From the general down to the newly-arrived buck private, they all wear me, they all swear by me instead of at me.

On the wrist of every line officer in the front line trenches, I point to the hour, minute and second at which the waiting men spring from the trenches to the attack.

I … am the final arbiter as to when the barrage shall be laid down, when it shall be advanced, when it shall cease, when it shall resume. I need but point with my tiny hands and the signal is given that means life or death to thousands upon thousands.

My phosphorous glow soothes and charms the chilled sentry, as he stands, waist deep in water amid the impenetrable blackness, and tells him how long he must watch there before his relief is due.

‘I mount guards, I dismiss guards. Everything that is done in the army itself, that is done for the army behind the lines, must be done according to my dictates. True to the Greenwich Observatory, I work over all men in khaki my rigid and imperious sway…

I am in all and of all, at the heart of every move in this man’s war. I am the witness of every action, the chronicler of every second that the war ticks on… I am, in this way, the indispensable, the always-to-be-reckoned-with.

Left: The 1916 advertisement shown here by Thresher and Glenny (a gentlemen's outfitters specialising in officer's uniforms and military outfits) displays the epitome of style for a newly comissioned officer; a smart turnout, and a wristwatch.

These images and information relating to a 'Coventry Astral' Wrist Watch, have been emailed to us at cathy@primetimeexeter.co.uk by kind courtesy of Rosemary Howard and her family, who wished to commemorate the treasured memory of Rosemary's Great Uncle Mr Leonard James Lott (pictured in the left image above), who bravely served during WW1, Rosemary's moving story follows ...' these are some photos of my great uncle's watch - Leonard James Lott. He joined up when he was 17 a few months younger than he should have been. He joined up because he was being given white feathers, he was a big lad and people thought he should have joined up. He was also a crack shot and was told to take off his badge he had won at his training and his officers said he would be picked as a sniper. They didn't survive long. He was in the 5th royal Warwick Regiment. He joined 27th July 1917 service no 26425. He was at the Somme and was wounded during his time in France. Rosemary's Great Uncle also bravely served at Rouen, Aire, Quermes, Niepp, Cambrai, Bourlon, Bapaume and Etaple. This information is from my dad Gordon James Lott.
Kind regards Rosemary...' The English Watch and Clock Manufacturers Ltd, made 'Astral Watches'. The company was based in Coventry, England & elsewhere. They were founded by Henry Willamson in 1871. During WWI the Company provided a large number of open faced watches (no cover over the glass) for military and aviation purposes to the British Government.

'Clockwork Warfare'

A barrage is a method of delivering massed artillery fire from a few or many batteries. Individual guns are aimed at points, typically 20 - 30 yards apart, along one or more lines that can range from a few hundred to several thousand yards long. The lines are usually 100 yards apart and fire is lifted from one line to the next. The guns, etc, usually fired at a consistent, steady rate, using high explosive or shrapnel shells.

Barrage fire may be defensive to deny or hamper enemy passage through an area, or offensive to provide covering fire that neutralises the enemy in an area through which friendly forces are advancing. Defensive barrages are usually static (or standing or box). Offensive barrages move forward in front of the advancing troops, the pattern of barrage movement may be creeping, rolling or block. Barrage fire is not aimed at specific targets, it is aimed at areas in which there are known or expected targets. It contrasts with a concentration, in which the guns aim at a specific target in an area typically 150 to 250 metres diameter. It is vital that such a barrage of artillery fire needs to be co-ordinated with

British 4.5 inch gun in action near Tilly-sur-Seulles, Normandy, 1944.

as much precision as possible (to avoid, or at least minimise, casualties via 'friendly fire'). Accordingly, each barrage has to be calibrated, measured, and run like clockwork.

Evolution of the BarrageThe barrage is believed to have been developed by the British in the Second Boer War. It came to prominence in WW1 notably its use by the British Expeditionary force and particularly from late 1915 onwards when the British realised that the neutralising effects of artillery to provide covering fire were the key to breaking into defensive positions. By late 1916 the creeping barrage was the standard means of deploying artillery to support an infantry attack, with the infantry following the advancing barrage as closely as possible. Its employment in this way recognised the importance of artillery fire in neutralising, rather than destroying, the enemy. It was found that a moving barrage immediately followed by the infantry assault could be far more effective than weeks of preliminary bombardment.

It is understood that the term “barrage” was first used in World War I in English in the orders for the battle of Newuve Chapelle. in 1915.

Synchronisation of the Barrage:A moving barrage or creeping barrage was a barrage that lifted in small increments, usually 100 yards every few minutes, so that it moved forward slowly, keeping pace with the infantry. British normal practice evolved to fire at two lines simultaneously. Eventually, three patterns of advancing the barrage developed. In a creeping barrage, fire moved from one line to the next. In a block barrage, the block moved (as a block) to the next lines that were not previously engaged. In a rolling barrage, the fire on the line nearest to its own troops moved to the first unengaged line furthest from its own troops.

By late 1917, the technique of a creeping barrage had been perfected and could be made to move in more complex ways, with the barrage wheeling or even combing back and forth across the same ground in order to catch the defenders re-emerging after the barrage had passed, but it was still governed by a timetable. The British developed the "quick barrage", a standardised barrage pattern that could be ordered by radio without advance plotting of the 'fireplan' on a map. Up to 10% were expected to be killed or wounded by shortfalling shells when it was first used. A creeping barrage could be made to stand on a static line for a time before it moved on, perhaps waiting for the infantry to form up behind it, or to catch up, or perhaps it would stand on the line of known enemy defences, to increase damage and sap enemy morale. The fireplan for the Battle of Messines on 17 June 1917 called for most of the18-pounder field guns to fire a creeping barrage of shrapnel immediately ahead of the advance, while the other field guns and 4.5 howitzers fired a standing barrage some 700 yards (640 m) further ahead.

A creeping barrage could maintain the element of surprise, with the guns opening fire only shortly before the assault troops moved off. It was useful when enemy positions had not been thoroughly reconnoitered, as it did not depend on identifying individual targets in advance. On the other hand it was wasteful of ammunition and guns, as much of the fire would inevitably fall on ground containing no enemy. A creeping barrage was first used in a small section of the line at the Battle of Loos in 1915, but the infantry did not advance behind it. The first day of the Battle of the Somme saw the first attempt at a large-scale creeping barrage which had been planned in anticipation of the infantry's expected ability to advance, relatively unhampered, across the battlefield due to a heavy, week long preparatory bombardment. For example, on XV Corps front (XV Corps was formed in Egypt on 9 December 1915 and then reformed in France on 22 April 1916 under Lieutenant-General SirHenry Horne) the barrage was programmed to lift 50 yards (46 m) every minute. Complications arose however in British protocols to prevent friendly-fire casualties which at the time dictated that shellfire was to be kept over one hundred yards away from their own uncovered infantry. In many cases no-man's land was narrower than the allowable 'safe' distance and as such the barrage did not protect the men as they went 'over the top' and advanced towards the German trenches.

Further, as the British infantry was slowed far beyond the expected pace of advance across no-man's land, all along the Somme front it proved impossible for the infantry to keep up with the pace of the barrage. However, the tactic was further refined as the Battle of the Somme wore on and by September 1916 the creeping barrage became a standard tactic for infantry attacks, and soon spread to the French army, enabling the French recapture of Fort Vaux at Verdun in November 1916. By the later stages of the Battle of the Somme, the British had improved the accuracy of and confidence in their artillery fire and had learned the lessons of keeping infantry close to the barrage: the BEF circulated an aerial observer's report commending a "most perfect wall of fire" followed up within 50 yards (46 m) by the infantry of 50th Division, enabling them to take a village with little opposition. A report said "Experience has shown that it is far better to risk a few casualties from an occasional short round from our own artillery than to suffer the many casualties which occur when the bombardment is not closely followed up". The creeping barrage was used during the Action of Tell 'Asur on 12 March 1918 in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Six months later, it was used with devastating effect during the Battle of Megiddo (1918) when 18-pdr and Royal Horse Artillery formed a creeping barrage which fired in front of the advancing infantry up to their extreme range while 4.5-inch howitzers fired beyond the barrage, while heavy artillery were employed in counter battery work. The creeping barrage moved at a rate of between 50 yards (46 m), 75 yards (69 m) and 100 yards (91 m) per minute. At first, British creeping barrages consisted only of shrapnel shells, but an equal mix of high explosive was soon added, in some cases later supplemented by smoke shells. The creeping barrage would advance at a rate of 100 yards every one to six minutes, depending on terrain and conditions; although six minutes was found to be too slow. By the Battle of Arras in 1917 the creeping barrage was huge and complex, with five or six lines of fire covering a depth of 2,000 yards (1,800 m) ahead of the infantry. Predicted fire was used, so that the barrage opened without preliminary target registration shots.

The following short excerpt is from 'A collection of resources from the First World War Archive for Billy Bishop' April 14 1917, and relates an account of the Battle of Arras by Billy Bishop, a Canadian pilot in the Royal Flying Corps;

“The waves of attacking infantry as they came out of the trenches and trudged forward behind the curtain of shells laid down by the artillery were an amazing sight. They seemed to wander across No Man’s Land and into the enemy trenches as if the battle was a great bore to them. From the air it looked as though they were taking it all entirely too quietly. That is the way of clockwork warfare. These troops had been drilled to advance at a given pace. They had been timed over and over again in marching a certain distance and from that timing, the ‘creeping’ barrage which moved in front of them had been mathematically worked out.”

Air Marshal William Avery 'Billy' Bishop (left) VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED, LL.D. (1894 – 1956) was a Canadian First World War flying 'ace', officially (although controversially) credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace of the war. During WW2, Bishop was instrumental in setting up and promoting the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Back barrages were also fired, in which rearmost lines of the barrage reversed direction, and machine gun barrages were introduced. 'False' barrages attempted to deceive the enemy about Allied intentions or to force them to reveal their positions. The creeping barrage was used to 'great' effect in the Canadian success at Vimy Ridge where the men had been extensively trained to move forward in the 'Vimy Glide' (see image left) - a 100 yd per three minute pace which kept the infantry directly behind the barrage. The opening attack of the Battle of Passchendaele (July - November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in W. Flanders) was covered by a barrage of shrapnel and High explosive on a colossal scale, fired by over 3,000 British guns and howitzers: one 18-pounder for every 15 yards (14 m) of front, and a heavy howitzer for every 50 yards (46 m), with yet more guns in the French sector. The British barrage advanced 100 yards (91 m) every four minutes, with the infantry following as close as 50 yards (46 m) from the bursting shells. One battery's programme required 45 lifts. As each objective was reached, the barrage settled 500 yards (460 m) beyond the new position, combing back and forth to disrupt expected German counter-attacks, while some of the artillery moved forward to support the next phase of the advance.

World War 2The barrage remained in use in WW2, but was no longer the dominant artillery plan. In the absence of the huge set-piece infantry assaults of World War I, barrages were on a smaller scale. For the opening of the battle of El Alamein (1 – 27 July 1942) for example, a barrage was considered by Montgomery's planners, (Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, British general and later field marshal) but the barrage was rejected in favour of fierce concentrations on known or suspected targets in turn. Along a 12,000 yard front, 456 guns were considered insufficient for a true creeping barrage (at Neuve Chapelle there had been one gun for every four yards of front). But creeping and rolling barrages were used in some divisional sectors and in later phases of the Alamein battle. For Operation Supercharge on 1–2 November 1942, the attack in the 2nd New Zealand Division sector was preceded by a creeping barrage of 192 guns along a 4,000 yard front, firing on three lines. There was almost one 25-pounder for every 20 yards of front, plus two medium regiments thickening the barrage.

While artillery tactics had been subjected to considerable evolution between the Wars, the British Gunnery School at Larkhill developed the most significant techniques for rapidly controlling and coordinating artillery fire. The impact of this was first felt in the Western Desert campaign. In WWI it had become essential to plot the location of all guns accurately, but the British would now survey in all their guns to one reference point; that made it possible for every artillery piece within range to join a fireplan in a very few minutes (provided they were in communications), rather than over several hours or days.

It remained in use in the Italian Campaign. In the assault on the Hitler Line on 23 May 1944, 810 guns were amassed for the attack of I Canadian Corps. Three hundred of them fired on the first line of a 3,200 yard wide barrage, beginning three minutes before the infantry moved off and lifting at a rate of 100 yards in five minutes. It was due to pause for an hour at the first objective, then lift at 100 yards per three minutes to the further objectives, but the timing was disrupted by heavy resistance and defensive artillery fire. The operation was later criticised for concentrating on too narrow a front, constrained by the need for enough guns to produce a dense barrage (See the map below).

In the assault crossing of the Senio in 1945, dummy barrages were used to confuse the enemy, either misleading them as to the line of attack or drawing them out of shelters as the barrage passed, expecting an infantry assault, only to catch them with a renewed barrage or air attacks.

On Monte Sole, US artillery fired probably its heaviest barrage of the war, 75,000 shells in a half hour to clear the advance of the South Africans.In Normandy, a creeping barrage fired from 344 guns preceded the opening attacks of 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division in Operation Epsom on 26 June 1944.For the opening of Operation Veritable, the push to the Rhine, the fire of 1,050 field and heavy guns was supplemented by 850 barrels of pepper-pot barrage: other weapons – mortars, machine guns, tanks, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and rockets – supplementing the field guns. The true barrage of the British XXX Corps began at 09.20, building in intensity over the next hour, 500 guns shooting at a line 500 yards deep. The barrage included smoke shells to screen the attackers forming up behind the barrage. From 10.30 the barrage was pure high explosive and began to roll forward. A 300 yard lift was made every 12 minutes, the lifts being signalled to the infantry by yellow smoke shells, and the barrage paused for ½ hour at each defensive line. 2,500 shells were fired per km2 per hour until the barrage stopped at 16.30.The barrage remained in Soviet doctrine in World War II, where the creeping barrage by massed guns was the standard accompaniment to an infantry assault. The Soviet artillery lacked the sophisticated communications nets necessary for more subtle tactics, but had plenty of guns. Some 7,000 guns and mortars were massed for the counterattack at Stalingrad, and huge bombardments remained standard for the rest of the war.

As always, Timing, communication and synchronisation were vital during conflict.

A Study in Time & Motion A WW1 soldier advances time management by chance.

Although it is generally accepted that Abraham-Louis Perrelet (1729 –1826) is acknowledged as coming up with the notion of the self-winding watch in the 1700s, it was John Harwood (1893-1964) an English horologist from Bolton, Durham, who is credited with inventing the first automatic winding wristwatch, patented in 1924.

A former World War I soldier working in a small watchmaker's shop on the Isle of Mann, Harwood used the energy at the wrist of the wearer for winding the mainspring by means of an oscillating rotor in the centre of the watch movement - 'a perpetuum mobile for an omnipresent timepiece' - was the pretentious tech launching spiel.

It was apparently pure coincidence that gave John Harwood the idea for his revolutionary invention. Observing children playing on a see-saw, he began to envisage the basic design of his “self-winding mechanism”. He developed the idea by using accumulated energy to tension the mainspring of a wristwatch. A series of experiments culminated in the first prototype of a self-winding wristwatch that was created from a discarded pocket watch, that he would have been so used to seeing during WW1.

There was no winding crown and the hands were set by rotating a milled bezel, which was also used to wind the mechanism. A red dot, which appeared in the dial aperture above the “6” showed that the mechanism was running.

At the Basel Trade Fair in 1926, The Fortis Watch Company presented the world's first mass-produced automatic wristwatches to an international audience. The Harwood Automatic was a pioneer in the history of the wristwatch and had a considerable impact on subsequent development of the automatic watch. A fortuitous encounter brought the Fortis founder and John Harwood together. Harwood found a visionary in Walter Vogt, who saw the potential of his invention. Vogt devoted himself to organising its mass production. Ironically by this time (and in complete contradiction to pre WW1 thinking) wearing a watch on the wrist was considered to be unladylike by watchmakers. It was completely unacceptable to wear a mechanism as sensitive as a watch on an exposed part of the body such as the wrist. Yet, again, it was ladies who wished to wear watches on their wrists. The ever-faster pace of everyday life required a new kind of time management, and the Harwood Automatic was put forward as being ideal for the task. When the airship Graf (Count) Zeppelin made its historic 21-day round-the-world trip beginning in Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1929, the Harwood watch was worn by British journalist, Grace Marguerite Drummond-Hay (the only female on board - pictured below wearing the watch). 1929, HARWOOD catalogue title for the French MarketAs a journalist, she wrote daily articles about the individual stages of this fantastic trip for the 'Hearst' media empire. The 'modern woman wore a Harwood automatic on her wrist'.This voyage made her the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by air.

A semi-documentary film entitled 'Farewell' was released in 2009 which featured much of the newsreel footage of Lady Drummond-Hay shot during the flight.

The ingenious perpetual motion watch ranks among the milestones of watch history and is recognized as a classic among wrist-watches, as noted by the watch magazine Chronos.

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805 – 1871) was probably the most accomplished and influential magician of his time. Erich Weitz (Houdini) even taking his name. He is widely considered the 'father of the modern style of conjuring'.

He was born, Jean Eugène Robert in Blois, France, on 7 December 1805. His father Prosper Robert, was one of the best watchmakers in Blois. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, but Jean wanted to follow into his father’s footsteps as a watchmaker. Jean’s penmanship was excellent, and he obtained a job as a clerk for an attorney’s office. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His employer sent him back to his father. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer.

In the mid 1820s, Jean saved to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clock making called 'Traité de l’horlogerie' or Treatise on Clockmaking, written by Ferdinand Berthoud. The book seller had put the books off to one side for Jean. Later, he reached up to the shelf and grabbed the books. He wrapped the two volumes and handed them to the young aspiring clockmaker. However, when Jean got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, what appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called 'Scientific Amusements'. Curiosity got the best of him and he did not return the books. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic and practiced at all hours of the day.

At a party, he met the daughter of a Parisian watchmaker, Monsieur Jacques François Houdin, who had also come from Jean Robert's native Blois. The daughter's name was Josèphe Cecile Houdin, and Jean fell in love with Cecile at their first meeting. On July 8, 1830, they were married. He hyphenated his own name to hers and became Robert-Houdin.

Robert-Houdin discovered a shop on the Rue Richelieu and found it sold magic items. He visited the store frequently, which was owned by a Père (Papa) Roujol. There he met fellow magicians, both amateur and professional, where he engaged in talk about conjuring. He also met an aristocrat by the name of Jules de Rovère, who coined the term "prestidigitation" to describe a major misdirection technique magicians used. At Papa Roujol’s, Robert-Houdin learned the details to many of the mechanical tricks of the time - as well as how to improve them. From there, he built his own mechanical figures, like a singing bird, a dancer on a tightrope, and the famous Magic Turk Clock automaton doing the cups and balls trick (not the fake chess playing version). His most acclaimed automaton was his writing and drawing figure. He displayed this figure before King Louis Philippe and eventually sold it to P. T. Barnum.

The Magician and Horologist Suppresses Conflict;

His fame and skill did not escape the notice and fascination of royalty. In 1856, he was asked by Louis-Napoleon to pacify the tribes in French Algeria. During this period, the French Army commanders maintained order in the newly pacified region. They supervised local Muslim administrations and the 'bureaux arabes'. These areas were closed off to colonization by the Europeans.

Napoleon III was worried about a religious tribe called the Marabouts. The Marabouts were able to control their tribe with their faux magical abilities. They advised their leaders to break ranks with the French. Napoleon wanted Robert-Houdin to demonstrate that French magic was superior.

The 'magical' mission began with an informal show at the Bab Azoun Theatre in Algeria, where he would give performances twice weekly. He also gave many special galas before the country’s tribal chiefs. He used The Light and Heavy Chest during these performances, but instead of playing it for comedy as he had in Paris, here he played it straight. The trick involved the use of a metal plate at the bottom of the chest, which was magnetised via an electro-magnet, making it impossible to lift when connected. Robert-Houdin invited the strongest tribesman on stage and asked the Arabian to pick up the wooden chest placed on stage. The Arabian picked it up with no problem. Then Robert-Houdin announced that he was going to sap his strength. He waved his wand and declared, "Contempler! Maintenant vous êtes plus faible qu'une femme; essayer de soulever la boîte." "Behold! Now you are weaker than a woman; try to lift the box." The Arabian laughed at this, and with all of his might, pulled on the handle of the chest. But it would not budge! He tried and tried until he tried to rip it apart. Instead, he screamed in pain, as Robert-Houdin had rigged the box to give the Arabian an electrical shock if he tried to rip the handles off. The Arabian let go of the handle, ran off into the aisle, and ran screaming out of the theatre. A variation of this event was included in the 2006 film 'The Illusionist'.

After his performances were done, he gave a special presentation for several chief men of their tribe. He was invited to the home of the head of the tribe of the desert interior, Bou-Allem. In the dawn of the Arab desert, Robert-Houdin was challenged to do a special trick. He obliged by inviting one of the rebels to shoot at him with a marked bullet, which he caught between his teeth. He was given a certificate from Bou-Allem, who wore a red robe symbolizing his loyalty to France. With this scroll praising his mysterious manifestations, Robert-Houdin went back to France with the mission of suppressing rebellion accomplished.

"The blow was struck," Robert-Houdin said, "...henceforth the interpreters and all those who had dealings with the Arabs received orders to make them understand that my pretended miracles were only the result of skill, inspired and guided by an art called prestidigitation, in no way connected with sorcery." He went on to say, “The Arabs doubtless yielded to these arguments, for henceforth I was on the most friendly terms with them." He was rewarded for his services of the French government by suppressing any possible rebellion.

Retirement and Death;

After his mission in Algeria completed, Robert-Houdin gave his last public performance at the Grand Théâtre in Marseille, then returned to his home in Saint-Gervais, near his native Blois, where he wrote his memoirs, 'Confidences d’un Prestidigitateur'. He also wrote several books on the art of magic. He lived happily in retirement for about fifteen years until the advent of the Franco Prussian War. His son Eugene was a captain in a Zouave regiment. On August 6, 1870, Robert-Houdin heard news of his son being mortally wounded at the Battle of Worth. Meanwhile, Hessians (soldiers) captured Paris and Robert-Houdin hid his family in a cave near his property. The Hessian soldiers were very rude, according to Robert-Houdin, but he found the Polish soldiers to be a lot kinder.

Four days later, Robert-Houdin was to find out that his son had died of his wounds. With the stress from that and the war, his health deteriorated and he contracted pneumonia. On June 13, 1871, he died of his illness, at the age of sixty-five.

Right; a memorial statue to Robert-Houdin outside his house in Blois.

Continuing the theatrical theme, the dragons seen far right, outside the windows, come in and out at intervals.

with thanks to; http://www.teluudailies.com

To see the Marvellous 'Magic Turk' Clock Automaton and others in full action, go to Paul Daniels' magnificent site and scroll down the page; http://pauldaniels.co.uk/videos/

Night Time Bombing Navigation ( Time Travel )

During the 1930s the RAF invested heavily in navigation training, equipping their aircraft with various pieces of new apparatus, including an astrodome for assessing a star fix, and providing the navigator additional room in which to carry out calculations in an illuminated workspace. This system was put into use at the start of WW2, and was initially regarded as successful. In reality, the early bombing effort was a complete failure, with the majority of bombs landing miles away from their intended targets. Night time bombing navigation presented particular and obvious problems.

The Germans deployed a navigational system known as the 'Knickebein' (German for 'crooked leg'.) However, this was ultimately defeated by British scientists. The German airforce developed another device called the 'X-Gerät' (X-Apparatus.) Unlike the Knickebein beams, which could be received by any German bomber using its Blind Landing set, the X-Gerät beams required special equipment and were used by a path-finding specialist unit, 'KGr 100' 'Kampfgruppe 100'. Kampfgruppe generally referring to any combat group/formation but with the r on the end of KGr, belonging to the LuftWaffe.

In the following example, Coventry (map left) which was the subject of intense pathfinder bombing, is used to illustrate the navigational system.

The X-Gerät used four main beams. A Directional Beam, or the Pilot's Approach Beam, was laid exactly over the centre-line of the target city from the transmitter site near Cherbourg. This beam was code-named "Weser" (a German river.) Three other cross-beams, code-named "Rhein," "Oder," and "Elbe," were transmitted to cross the main beam at pre-set intervals before reaching the target. Path-finders, would take off from the airfield at Vannes in Britanny and fly 150 miles towards Cherbourg. Over Cherbourg the Pilot's Approach beam would be intercepted and received by the aircraft. The beam was very complex, because it was actually two beams overlapping each other -- a course and a fine. The coarse beam was wide and easy to locate. Once the pilot was flying along the coarse beam, he would eventually align the plane with the fine beam, which was much narrower, with an equi-signal zone about 20-30 feet wide. These beams were of the same 'Lorenz' (an earlier navigational version) characteristics as Knickebein's, but were monitored visually instead of aurally. The pilot and the navigator had visual "kicking" meters that would indicate if the bomber went astray from the centre of the Weser fine beam to either left or right. At this point the pilot's only concerns were to keep the aircraft accurately aligned with the beam, adjust for wind drift, and stay in given altitude.

The navigator also used a separate receiver, which was tuned to receive the cross-beams from the Calais area. There was also a bomb-release calculator, being a large clock with three hands: green, black, and red, and was in fact clockwork. The hands were pre-set with the aid of charts and tables to factor in variables like altitude and wind speed.

When the 'Oder' signal was received, the clock automatically started and the two hands began to sweep up from zero. When the signal from 'Elbe' was received the clock reversed, at which point one hand would stop and the other would start moving back towards zero. 'Oder' and 'Elbe' were aimed to be roughly 5 to 10 kilometres (3.1 to 6.2 mi) from the bomb release point along the line of 'Weser' (the exact distance depending on the distance from the transmitter), meaning that the clock accurately measured the time to travel between the first two beams along the flight path. Since the time taken to travel that distance should be the same as the time needed to travel the last 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from 'Elbe' to the target, the moving hand reached zero and the bombs were automatically released. To be exact, the 'Elbe' signal was adjusted to correct for the distance the bombs would travel between release and impact.

The first cross-beam that intersected the Weser beam was intercepted some distance from the target. This was the Rhein coarse warning beam. Afterwards the pilot had to fly very precisely along the exact centre of the approach beam. Thirty kilometres from the target, the navigator was alerted to the intersecting of the second fine cross-beam - Oder (20-30 yards wide). Upon receiving this beam, he started the clock and the green and black hands began to move together. The third beam, Elbe, was intercepted fifteen kilometers from the bomb release point. The navigator now pressed the control lever on the clock again, stopping the green and black hands (which calculated the ground speed) and starting the red hand moving towards the now stationary black hand. In less than a minute (50 seconds) when the red and black hands overlapped, an electrical circuit was completed and flares and incendiary bombs were released to mark the target for the other bombers.

The actual accuracy of the system was approximately 100 yards at 200 miles, which was close enough to hit a large individual factory when the ballistics of individual bombs and the different wind gradients were also factored in. It was certainly the most accurate method of night bombing yet devised by any air force up to that time.

commemorates the fallen of both World Wars as well as civilian casualties of World War II. The monument is a clock tower in the centre of the town of Rainham, Essex, London, England. It is constructed of red Belgian brick, with Portland stone dressings. There is also a cast stone ornamentation. The memorial is a hexagonal short tower with clock dials on three of its sides. On a sloping base, the names of the war dead are inscribed. In addition, stone blocks inscribed with "Lest We Forget" are positioned at angles to the tower.

There are also inscription panels on the sides of the monument. Narrow pilasters decorate the angles of the clock tower. Arches are present over a niche and doorway. The top of the clock tower features a parapet with balustrade. Iron railings surround the memorial, which is prominently sited between Broadway and Upminster Road in front of Saint Helen and Saint Giles, the parish church of Rainham.

The Rainham War Memorial was built in 1920. It was unveiled by Colonel Sir Francis Henry Douglas Charlton Whitmore (1872–1962) on 7 November 1920. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex from 1936 to 1958.The Rainham War Memorial was added to the National Heritage List for England on 25 March 2002 as a Grade II listed structure.

One of the soldiers represented on the monument is Second Lieutenant Ralph Luxmore Curtis (left) a World War I flying ace credited with fifteen aerial victories. A native of Rainham, Essex, the nineteen-year-old engaged in aerial combat with Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27 and future head of the Luftwaffe.

On 21 September 1917, pilot Second Lieutenant Ralph Curtis and his observer Second Lieutenant Desmond Uniacke engaged in aerial combat with pilot Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27, over Sleyhage, near Roeselare, West Flanders, also known as Roulers.

Curtis was piloting Bristol F.2b (A7224). At 09:05, their Bristol Fighter was shot down by Göring. Uniacke was captured and became a prisoner of war. Curtis died that day in a German dressing station from the wounds that he had sustained in the combat.

Curtis was initially interred at Hooglede Ost German Military Cemetery in Hooglede, West Flanders. In 1924, his remains were transferred to Harlebeke New British Cemetery in Harelbeke, West Flanders, Belgium.

Along with medals, clocks were often presented as tokens of gratitude for service given.

Following the Boer War 1899 to 1901, men from Helensburgh, Argyll, Scotland, who gave 'patriotic service' were rewarded with carriage clocks. The Provost, of Helensburgh, Colonel William Anderson, during a coming home reception in 1901, said that '.. the purpose of the coming home reception was to express goodwill and gratitude for their actions, and to ask them to accept a token of their recognition of their services...' The Provost said that a carriage clock, would be sent to each of them. In fact they were presented personally at a ceremony in the Municipal Buildings in November of that year. The clock was made to a special design by Messrs Elkington & Co. of London of oxidised silver and brass. Above the dial is a reproduction of the burgh coat of arms, with South Africa and 1899-1901 on either side. At the foot of the dial is an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander, a field gun, and an Imperial Yeoman. The inscription reads: “Presented to ………………………. in recognition of patriotic service in the South African Campaign — June 1901.” The local Helensburgh officers and NCOs who served in the campaign were: Lieutenant J.Maxwell Gillatt, Sergeant Farrier William Neilson, Sergeant Daniel L.Porter, Lance-Sergeant John McNicol, Corporal John Hamilton, Corporal A.A.Stuart Black, and Corporal George S.Maughan. In 2012 information about two of the clocks came to light. Richard Johnson from Edenbridge in Kent was researching the history of the clock which was presented to Private McKinlay. He stated; “I volunteered to help with research into this fine antique clock... I think the main area of interest revolves around the fact that such a fine clock was presented to a Private. He must have been very highly regarded locally.'Private McKinlay’s clock is in pristine condition and was on sale in Edinbridge at £5,650. However in April 2013 it was bought by the Trust for £5,000. Information about the second clock came from Mrs Mairi Gallagher in Rhu. There is damage to the face of this clock and it would not be so valuable. She said: “It was presented to my great grandmother’s brother, John Westwood McCulloch, and it is on my mantelpiece and still works! The story had a sad ending. Another relative, David Walker Coutts, died in South Africa about 1900, while Trooper McCulloch died at home in 1906 at the age of 30, having never married. Mairi added: “The family story is that he was traumatised by the war and was never the same when he came home.” The clocks originally cost ten guineas each, and the total cost to Helensburgh Town Council was £261, including a plaque which was erected in the Municipal Buildings and is still there.

Kind courtesy of http://www.helensburgh-heritage.co.uk

Another 'Tommy' Just Doing His Duty

​Private Thomas Kenny of the 13th Durham Light Infantry, was a miner from Wheatley Hill, County Durham, England. He was the first soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross during WW1.

Local Durham school children presented him with a marble clock, a pipe and some tobacco. They also read a poem to him;

Welcome, welcome once again Hero brave and bold To the school where you were taught In the days of old.

We the present pupils Of Wingate Catholic School Were pleased to hear When death was near You were so brave and cool.

A former Royal Navy Lieutenant has been reunited with the watch he lost during WW2.

Mr Teddy Bacon, of Tarvin, Cheshire, lost his 'Bulova' watch while throwing a line from his ship, HMS Repulse to Gibraltar Harbour in 1941. He left his name and address with the harbour master but expected to never see it again.

Mr Bacon said he was "amazed" when he received a parcel with a Gibraltar postcode and his watch inside. "I told my wife, you unpack it, and you will find out it isn't a present for you," he said. "Then out came my watch complete with everything, exactly as it had been when it disappeared. "It's exciting to have an old friend, I won't lose it again."

The American brand watch made by the Bulova Company, which he was informed had been underwater and immersed in mud, is still working and telling the time perfectly. Mr Bacon added: "Remembering what my father said, nothing is lost until you are certain it's left the planet. Well it didn't leave the planet, it's back."

St Luke's Church Clock Illuminated in Memoriam

These images are of a striking war memorial to the fallen of WW1 and WW2. It is situated in Ironbridge, Shropshire, England.

My husband Steve and I recently visited to celebrate our anniversary, and felt this remarkable statue warranted an entry into the archive. Please note the information relating to how the church clock was utilised for remembrance below. The memorial is set close to the magnificent iconic Iron Bridge

This memorial commemorates the men of Ironbridge who gave their lives during the wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. The statue represents a life size sculpture of a soldier in full marching order. The soldier surmounts a pedestal. It was designed by sculptor Arthur George Walker (1861–1939). The memorial was unveiled on the 8th March 1924 by Colonel A.N.B.Garrett

One of the plaques on the memorial reads as follows;

'In grateful and undying memory of the valiant men of Iron Bridge who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914-1918.

We thank our God upon every remembrance of you'.

The rear view of the memorial with St Luke's church clock in the background.

The following inscription is proudly displayed;'The Church Clock was illuminated as a memorial to the following men of Ironbridge who lost their lives during the 1939-1945 war'.

Somme, Mud Encrusted Trench Watch Stopped on 1 December 1915.

The following entry is by very kind courtesy of Clare Murton and the Trust of St Agnes Museum in Cornwall.

This poignant image of a Trench Watch - which has been kindly contributed by St Agnes Museum in Cornwall - records the moment on 1 December 1915, when Lieutenant Harold Llewellyn Twite, was tragically killed in action at the Somme in northern France. His comrades sent his belongings (the timepiece still being covered in mud from the Somme) back home to his widow, Mrs Lucy Muriel Twite, in Sutton, Surrey, England.

Lieutenant Twite was working overseas as a mining engineer when war was declared. He returned home to sign up and was seconded to the 183rd (Tunnelling) Company of the Royal Engineers. An expert in digging tunnels and sinking shafts, Lieutenant Twite was put in charge of a team of Cornish miners. The team's job was to tunnel under the German trenches in northern France to lay explosives. His team had just retreated in December 1915, after setting a series of charges, when the enemy detonated a huge mine. The blast killed him and four of his fellow countrymen.Clare Murton, speaking on behalf of St Agnes Museum, informed PrimeTime of Exeter that the items which were sent back to Mrs Twite by his comrades, were not in fact lost or unknown at any point (as reported in recent newspaper articles). Although it is true that Mrs Twite, could not bear to look at them. Ms Murton continued' '...When the sack containing the articles arrived at Mrs Twite's house in January 1916, she was apparently (and understandably) too distraught to open it, and put it away unopened.

When Mrs Twite moved from Sutton back to Cornwall, the sack was kept in the attic there along with other memorabilia. When she died in 1958, her daughter kept all items relating to her father (as agreed with her brother and sister). She had opened the sack and looked at the contents, and had shown it to her own children (including Mr David Chilcott [Lt Twite's Grandson] who gave the items to the museum) at least once. Lieutenant Harold Llewellyn Twite. Killed in action 1 December 1915 aged 36. Both images copyright The St Agnes Museum Trust

When Lt Twite's daughter died in 1987, David, as the eldest son, took over all her father's belongings, and stored them in his attic. He showed the sack and its contents to his siblings, his children and several other family members at one time or another. Prior to his contacting the museum in 2013, he had polled all six other grandchildren, and they agreed unanimously as to the appropriateness of all their Grandfather's memorabilia being donated to and offered for display in St Agnes museum'. Please see below for more fascinating contributions from St Agnes Museum.

WW1 Brass Alarm Clock Belonging to Military Cross Hero.

These images and information have also been graciously donated by St Agnes Museum, Cornwall.George Henry Keast M.C. (1884-1959)

After serving as a non-commissioned officer, George Henry Keast was commissioned in 1916 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery. In 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. For two consecutive days he showed great courage and skill in maintaining telephonic communication between our attacking infantry and Headquarters, though exposed to heavy shell and machine gun fire all the time.” Keast was promoted to Lieutenant in May 1918 and in 1921 retired as Honorary Captain. A keen sportsman, he had represented the Army at football and hockey.

After retirement he took a keen part in village life in St. Agnes Cornwall and was Chairman and later Vice-President of St Agnes Association Football Club and Vice-President and Honorary Life member of St Agnes Silver Band.

He was a committee member of the St Agnes St John Ambulance Division and served in the Home Guard in World War II.

The image here depicts the Brass Alarm Clock that accompanied George Keast throughout various campaigns during WW1. You can see the straight alarm hand just past the 4 o' clock position. The clock remains in very good condition. it is likely the clock would have originally had a leather travelling case.

The reverse angle depicting the alarm mechanism. The word 'Wecker' is visible, meaning alarm in German.

images copyright The St Agnes Museum Trust

Another Time Another 'Day'.

This is The story of the 'Day' Family's voyages to and from HongKong and their life in the colony. 1910 - 1915. It is taken from the excellent blog of M J Fouracre (nee Day) Thomas Roebuck Day's Great Granddaughter, who found this diary in a box of old photos after the death of her Grandfather in 1981

This excerpt is taken from the diary entry of 22 November 1912 on a trip to Canton;

'Once we started we moved along at a rapid pace. We first visited the 500 Genai or gods, each one representing something. Well do I remember the god of plenty. He was a big fat, jolly looking fellow. While we were looking at the Gods the Chinese priests were chanting and playing most wierd instruments & tom toms & burning Joss-sticks. We again took our seats in our Chairs & was again hurried through the streets; I shall never forget they were so narrow, you could stand in the centre & touch the houses on either side, so our chairs took the whole width of the street & we were 20 in number. We visited one or two Temples and Joss houses, also the British Yamen, where we heard the noted & most remarkable echo. Upon speaking the echo would repeat most distinctly 3 or 4 times, this was between two large walls, which appeared to be ruins. This Yamen was taken by the British many years ago because the French took one at that time.

Thomas, Marian, Hedley and Freddie Day, 1910 Plymouth, EnglandWe next paid a visit to the 9 Storey Pagoda, called the Flower Pagoda, it was most interesting. We then visited the ancient Water Clock. This was the only clock in Canton at one time. It is simply 3 tubs one above the other & the water dripping from number one into number 2 & thence into number 3 & the water raised a float at the top of which is a long spill marked off into degrees, & so the time was announced to the inhabitants of Canton every two hours, by the singing of a large Bell'. for more illuminating insights into the life of the Day family visit; http://thedaytriptohongkong1910-15.blogspot.co.uk and @DaloDallenger Please also see the entry in our Time Capsules page.

Water clocks, along with sundials, are likely to be the oldest time-measuring instruments.

Where and when they were first invented is apparently unknown, and given their great antiquity there may never be a definitive answer.

The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon and in Egypt around the 16th century BC.

Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain.

Some reports claim that water clocks appeared in China as early as 4000 BC.

Left is the water clock at Canton visited by the Day family.

Time in Memorial

As a way of commemorating those who had died in the Great War, public clocks were specifically built by four New Zealand communities – Blenheim, Waipawa, Waverley and Taradale.

This memorial clock set in beautiful surrounding landscape in Taradale, was unveiled in December 1923. It remained undamaged by the devastating Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 1931.

Image courtesy of http://www.teara.govt.nz

'...I’m going to have that clock...'

The following account is by kind courtesy of Mr Paul Nixon from his excellent blog at http://worldwar1veterans.blogspot.co.uk which archives interviews from WW1 veterans detailing their experiences during the Great war;

820437 Gunner Alfred Willis, Royal Field Artillery; '...Then there was another bit an’ all when we was guarding a big ammunition dump [Ypres}. So this English one was a small scouting plane, only a young pilot, he were only eighteen. They must have trained him well at that age... this little scout plane of ours he got right up in the sky over the top of him and he peppered him [the German plane] from there, and fetched it down just in line with our dump. We went across to see what we could do and it crashed. We expected to see a ball of flame but it didn’t. It were all smashed up and we could see there were two in it: one were the pilot and I presume one were the pilot or the navigator, something like that.

The pilot were still alive but he didn’t live long. He’d been shot right through the wrist by this scout of ours so he lost control over it and crashed. But the other chap, he were dead. Must have been hit up in the air. We tried to get ‘em out – well we knew it were no good trying to get the one that was dead – we got the other one out eventually. The scout plane that was after him couldn’t come down because it was all barbed wire but about two or three fields away he come down and he come across. He says, thank God I’ve got him.

As soon as he’d come down, when there was nobody there, I thought to myself I’m going to see if I can get his camera. Well I didn’t know where they had the cameras. I couldn’t find it so I got into the remains of the cockpit and I thought, I’m going to have that clock. And I got the clock off the dashboard. They used to be in an aluminium case screwed to the dashboard. I got that off and the next day I heard rumours talking about that it was missing and nothing wasn’t to be touched. So it put the wind up me so I put it in an old tin and sealed it and buried it in the ground until things got quiet. I did get it home eventually but I can’t make out what happened to it; who had it. But it was a watch, specially made for the job.'

Please see the fascinating blog by Paul Nixon @OldSoldierSahib for many more moving and unique interviews.

The Chimes of the Clyne The community of Clyne, Broro, Sutherland, Scotland, pulled together to raise funds in order to restore the local War Memorial clock dial in time for the 100 year commemoration of World War I in August 2014. The clock is one of Scotland’s most iconic war memorials. It has had a complete refurbishment by expert clock repairers and the local community, which had long campaigned for the clock to be upgraded, engaged clock makers Smith of Derby to oversee the full restoration. The work was carried out on site and at the company’s James Ritchie and Son’s workshops in Broxburn, West Lothian, with the clock returned to Brora in time for August 2014. Engineers have cleaned and restored the clock dials, with opal glass replacing the existing Perspex on the dials to return them to their original condition. The steelworks surrounding the clock were also cleaned and painted. Tony Charlesworth, Smith of Derby Technical Sales Consultant, said: “The Brora war memorial is a beautiful construction and it is vital to the local and wider communities who visit it that the clocks are running to the correct time.” The Brora War Memorial was built circa 1920 to commemorate those who gave their lives in World War I, and the clock famously chimes in time with Big Ben.

Story courtesy of http://www.smithofderby.com

'...I think that man must have run off with my watch!...'

The following extracts are by very kind courtesy of @chrismiller and http://www.familyletters.co.uk @FamilyLetters They are taken from letters written home by Richard (Dick) Berryman during WW1 (Dick is pictured left - centre of the picture) and represent a wonderful written snapshot, capturing moments that otherwise would have gone unrecorded. Edited Excerpts from his letters below, include references to his gold-watch. They are preceded by a short introduction from the grandson of one of the brothers;

'...My grandfather was one of 6 brothers all involved in different theatres of the First World War: one was in the navy at Jutland, another in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the rest were scattered around France and India. They all wrote home to their mother who unsurprisingly kept their letters. In the course of time my mother inherited them'.

In the 1970s my mother persuaded the Imperial War Museum to copy and transcribe the letters, and she then edited selections from the transcriptions and turned them into a book'. This is based on my mother’s description of them, written when she edited the letters for publication in the 1970s;

'...Dick, the eldest, is 16 and already something of a dandy with his light-coloured trousers belted by what appears to be a tie, a buttonhole and a generally casual air. By contrast Jim, just over a year younger, is still very much a schoolboy in his suit and cap, holding a bicycle. Ted, standing behind his mother, completes the trio of the three eldest boys. Ben – Benedicta after her godmother – almost exactly a year younger than Ted balances the picture with another bicycle. In her full-sleeved blouse, Tam O’Shanter and button boots she looks like the heroine of an E Nesbit story'.

Letters home from Dick, 1916;

March 23 Karachi.

'Dear Mother.No mail this week, but I daresay a letter will come Saturday. We are getting settled down here more or less, but it’s warming up. Ihad a long letter from Jane, she seems to be enjoying her new job & is happy. I have sent that gold watch home by a man who is sailing shortly, can’t think why I ever brought it out. Hope it arrives safe. No more now.Yr loving son Richard.

C/o Cox & CoKarachi.June 2.Dear MotherI think that man must have run off with my watch! Has'nt it turned up yet? Many thanks for your letter (May 11.) Who do you think I met the other day. Trelawney! Turned up here from Mesopotamia, he's S & T & was buying stores. He could'nt imagine I was Dick, he thought I must be Paul & he swears if I am Dick, I've grown younger! Nice eh? He has much improved & really quite nice looking in his old age. Many thanks for the Bystander, but you'll know by now I'd like an overseas Daily Mirror or Sketch the best. Trelawney had lunch here yesterday & we had a huge buck over old times in the club bar till about 2 o'clock the other night. He seemed most keen about Dreda's welfare. He sent his love to everyone.So hot & dusty wind today. Rotten- Must stop as I'm sweating so.Love to allyr loving son Richard.

Karachi. Friday 9th.Yes see about Miss Sparrow. Dear Mother.Many thanks for your letter May 17. That man has never sent my watch yet. Hope he has'nt run away with it! Trust he has only forgotten. I am glad you like the photographs. Who I wonder told you about a doctor in No 1. G.H, I much prefer the men in it to the fellows in ours. I hear from Evelyn that she had been down to tea on a Sunday. I am so glad you like her. Rather nice for you being at Aldershot.I got the two letters all right; many thanks. One of them very welcome, about some money that was owed to me. It's dreadful about Kitchener. We heard the day after, I wonder what everyone thinks at home about it. Just at present it's very very hot here. Always is they say before the Monsoon breaks. Ted says he may be able to get down here next month. I've told him we'll be delighted to see him, but he may find it a bit hot. Anyway it will be cooler than it is now.I've just had most awful bad (not really as bad as some) prickly heat. Such a nuisance, & I'm so angry, as it's just like a beginner I say, not like an old Anglo-Indian like I am.

Fancy seeing Dumps Morse again. I have'nt seen her for years! You might send me (don't get excited or flurried about it) my ventriloquist doll, as there are crowds of kids here and I'd like to amuse 'em one afternoon. Stick him in a strongish box & send it by the mail. I expect the man in that Express luggage shop near the station will tell you the best way, or write to the Eastern Express Co (can't find address) they are as good as anyone & they have a depot in Karachi. Put in the box too, some of those white shirts of mine with R.B on the front and also my blue uniform.Ask Jane to send me some new songs if there are any. There is some money of mine still knocking about. She has some anyhow. I am putting in some photographs which Trel took the other day,funny I should meet him, is'nt it! Did Evelyn sing the other Sunday, does'nt she sing well? She liked you awfully.I must stop & catch the mail. Best love to all.

Yr loving son Richard.I see the Malaya arrived in time to do some fighting, how pleased Paul must be.

c/o Cox & CoKarachi. June 23. Dear Mother-Many thanks for yours & the bystanders & tatlers. I will expect the Camera. It has not arrived yet. You must excuse a short letter as I have left it so late & I must catch the mail. Blow that man for not sending the watch. But I saw a friend of his tother day, he says he is sure he will post it in the end. Hope he does! You say you must go to bed it's long after 11.30, it's not really it's 10.30 is'nt it?Best love to allyr loving son Richard.'

A Stitch in Time... (Spinning a Yarn about Guerilla Knitters' Warfare)

A story of local pride, determination and generosity, kindly contributed by Yvonne Webster to PrimeTime for our archive.

'Years ago the Chesham Town Hall with its clock tower was demolished to make room for road changes. A scaled down version of the clock tower was built in what is now known as the Market Square, and a big new Town Hall built.

In 2013 the bell from the original tower was found in an old garden shed. The bell was given to the Chesham Museum. Stirling Maguire, a trustee of the museum, decided in April 2014 that the bell should be hung in the replacement clock tower. Stirling raised £8000 very quickly from charitable donations to pay for a cradle to be built to house the bell, and for the bell to be hung. The work was planned and completed by the end of July.

On August 4th 2014 a service of commemoration was held for the dead of Chesham in WW1 as well as the inauguration of the bell. At 12:00 noon the bell chimed for the first time to start the service. The name of each of the war dead of Chesham was called out and the bell struck once for each person. This was followed by a multi- faith service which included an Imam, a baptist, a member of the Jewish community, and others.

The event was attended by 500 people. Families of the war dead were invited to leave flowers at the clock tower. Balloons, each labelled with the name of one of the war dead, were released.

Local guerrilla knitters and crocheters decorated the town with poppies, including a bollard cover, hoardings covered in crocheted cobwebs with poppies, a wreath of crocheted poppies, and strings of poppies round the war memorial'.

Left: 500 red balloons released to honour the heroes of Chesham who gave their lives during the Great War.

The local Guerilla Knitters, or 'Yarnstormers' were in town to remember and commemorate Chesham's war dead of WW1.

This superb display of poppies and insignia is an inspired piece of artwork.

The Chesham War Memorial adorned with strings of poppies, courtesy of the Guerilla Knitters.

Chesham’s Memorial is dedicated to those who died in both the World Wars. It is in the centre of The Broadway. The World War One memorial commemorates the 188 Chesham men who fell between 1914 and 1918. The striking stone statue was designed by Arthur George Walker who placed it such that the sun would shine on the soldier's face all day.

The memorial is one of seven of a similar design, the others being located at Dartford, Heston, Hounslow, Ironbridge (see our entry from Ironbridge) Sevenoaks and Wolverhampton.

Only the Chesham and Heston memorials are sculpted from stone, the others being cast in bronze. The statue was unveiled on the 14th July 1921.

The memorial plaque reads:TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THIS TOWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES AND TO HONOUR ALL WHO SERVED OR SUFFERED IN THE CAUSE OF GOD KING AND COUNTRY THEIR DEEDS LIVE AFTER THEM FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH1914-1918(for a full roll of honour visit http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Buckinghamshire/Chesham.html )

Following the Second World War the memorial was reconstructed, and two monoliths installed either side to honour those who died between 1939 and 1945.

The memorial is proudly maintained by Chesham Town Council. Mr Grenville Chamberlain provided the historical information about the memorial. Thanks to Chesham Town Council for the additional information. More athttp://www.chesham.gov.uk

How Were WW1 Watches Read in the Dark?As stated, the need (and desire) for Military watches, and the requirement for them to be read in the dark necessitated the numerals and hands being made luminous, and therefore able to glow in the dark. After all, how was a soldier expected to see his watch in the dark or underground if there were no light to 'charge' the luminescence.The method employed to achieve this was a controversial one. They were covered with radioluminescent paint (the glow actually being caused by nuclear radiation!).

Please note; the paint used then was unlike the relatively harmless luminous compounds routinely used in modern watches, and certainly the ones we work on at PrimeTime. Most contemporary watches charge up in sunlight with their glow diminishing over a few hours. The luminous paint used on WW1 era watches was made with a mixture of radioactive Radium and Zinc Sulphide. The Zinc Sulphide glowed brightly when absorbed by radiation from the Radium. This paint glowed day or night, without needing exposure to sunlight, and continued to glow for many years, even when stored away from the light.

(Left and below) WW1 Trench Watch with Luminous Dial Circa 1917.

However, the Zinc Sulfide was not everlasting, and eventually it faded and no longer glowed; although the Radium perpetually emitted radiation. Luminous Radium paint on dials was first used around 1910, before the dangers of radioactivity were fully understood or reported. Although health issues in workers using Radium paints were reportedly observed in the late 1920s, it is understood the paint continued to be used up until the 1950s. At the time, there was no suitable, safer alternative available, and the military et al, continued to opt for Radium based paint for specific applications, such as compasses, instruments, gun sights, and pertinently, watch dials.Information by kind courtesy of David Boettcher's excellent site at VintageWatchstraps.com

The Resilience of a Clockmaker during War Time

Gillett & Johnston, clockmakers.

William Gillett was the original founder of the firm. He first began as a clock maker in Hadlow, Kent. He moved to Croydon where he established his business in 1844. Charles Bland became a partner around 1854 and brought his skills as a salesman to the company and it was through his influence that turret and public clocks were first introduced to the business. The company was one of the first steam-powered clock factories in the world and in 1868 the iconic clock tower (left) at the factory was built as a working advertisement.Each of the clock dials was different and unique, being hand finished by skilled workmen.

Arthur Johnston bought a partnership in the firm in 1877 and the firm became known as Gillett, Bland & Co until Charles Bland’s death in 1884 when the company name was changed to Gillett & Co. During this time the business was further extended with the development of the Bell Foundry as there was a need to supply bells for the clocks.

The title 'Gillett & Johnston' appears to have been used from around 1877 onwards and it was during this period that Arthur Johnston took over full control of the foundry.

During WW1, the factory adapted, installed suitable machinery and was involved in the manufacture of munitions. An extension was necessary as the output rose to nearly 40,000 fuses per week, which required the employment of over 1,250 men and women working day and night.

The factory was ordered by the Director General of Munitions Supply to make Fuses, Caps, Safety pins and Fitted Holders. The factory utilised women workers for the first time, and, (although women were employed in factory work prior to WW1) it is generally accepted that this period became a pivotal and liberating experience for Women. They were also able to benefit from the freedom and the level of wages that only men had enjoyed up to then. Although Munitions factories were considered dangerous, precarious places to work - as work involved coming into contact with TriNitroToluene (TNT) the work was highly paid and caused a lot of women to leave their previous work in domestic service. ​

Women workers became known as 'canaries' due to the yellow tinge that affected their skin as a result of long term exposure to the sulphur in TNT. It is believed 400 women died from over-exposure to TNT during WW1; however Gillett & Johnston were predominantly involved with manufacturing fuses and fuse caps.

Women employed in munitions factories - popularly known as 'Munitionettes' - have become largely the established face of women workers in WW1. Over 700,000 women worked in the munitions industry in England during WW1, with Munitionettes producing 80% of the weapons and shells used by the British Army. According to Gillett & Johnston archives, In an order from the Director General of Munitions Supply on 26th Jan 1916, 500 no.18 mark III fuses were ordered. On 7th March 1916 200 no.18 mark II were ordered as well as 300 fuse caps, 300 safety pins & 35 fitted holders. On 29th March 1916 15000 fuses no. 106 design were ordered, and on 23rd Oct 1916 160000 fuses no.106 were ordered. The orders increasing exponentially as the war progressed.

Arthur Johnston died in 1917, and his son Cyril had to return from France where he had a special reserve commission in the Grenadier Guards to take over the running of the firm.

After the signing of the Armistice, the plant was restored to its peacetime occupation, and the extra space developed to support the war effort, adapted once again, and had specially designed machinery to manufacture bells, Turret and small clocks installed.

Between 1844 and 1950 more than 14,000 Tower clock installations were manufactured at the Croydon factory. In 1925 the company became known as the Croydon Bell Foundry Ltd and in 1930 the name changed again to Gillett & Johnston Ltd.

Above is one of the many fascinating exhibits to be found at The Victory Emporium Tea Rooms in Seaton, Devon England. It is an authentic 'Canaries' overall donated to the exhibit by one of their many customers. Please pay them a visit and also see the entry on our NEWS page.

Strength in Numbers

Major refurbishment at 'Copthorne Preparatory School's war memorial was due to be finished on Remembrance Day 2014. To commemorate the centenary of the First World War, Copthorne Prep, in East Grinstead, England, undertook a refurbishment programme on their Chapel Tower. The clock and the bells in the tower were built in 1919 as a memorial to the pupils and masters from the school who gave their lives in the service of their country. However, after nearly 100 years, the reverberation of the bells had taken its toll on the tower and major refurbishment was needed. With contributions from the Old Copthornian society and families in Copthorne, enough money was raised to repair and strengthen the tower, re-gild the clock dial, build a new internal staircase and redecorate the paintwork. A spokesperson from the school said: "The hope is that the refurbished tower and bells will stand to see at least another 100 years."Kind courtesy of; http://www.eastgrinsteadcourier.co.uk/War-memorial-refurbishment-Copthorne-Prep/story-24138257-detail/story.html#ixzz3LyKWlAki

Peace Chimes

The Peace Towermakes up part of the Canadian Parliament buildings. It was designed by Jean Omer Marchand and John A. Pearson. The tower is a campanile (bell tower) whose height reaches 92.2 m (302 ft 6 in) over which are arranged a multitude of stone carvings, including approximately 370 gargoyles, grotesques, and friezes, keeping with the Victorian High Gothic style of the rest of the parliamentary complex. The walls are of Nepean sandstone, and the roof is of reinforced concrete covered with copperOne of four grotesques at the corners of the Peace Tower At its base is a porte-cochere within four equilateral pointed arches, the north of which frames the main entrance of the Centre Block, and the jambs of the south adorned by the supporters of the Royal Arms of Canada.

Running around the circumference of the tower's shaft, is an observation deck. This was the highest accessible space in Ottawa until the early 1970s; the Peace Tower dominated the Ottawa skyline, as a strict 45.7 m (150 ft) height limit was placed on other buildings. That limit, however, was later rescinded, leading the Peace Tower to lose its distinction as the city's tallest structure. Cantilevered out at each of the four corners of the tower, at the level of the observation platform, are four 2.5 m (8 ft 4 in) long, 75 cm (2 ft 6 in) high, and 45 cm (1 ft 6 in) thick gargoyles made of Stanstead grey granite from Beebe, Quebec

The Peace Tower notably also functions as a memorial to Canadians who had given their lives during WW1. It thus houses the Memorial Chamber, a vaulted 7.3 m by 7.3 m (24 ft by 24 ft) room directly above the porte-cochere, with stained glass windows and various other features illustrating Canada's war record, such as the brass plates made from spent shell casings found on battlefields that were inlaid into the floor, and bore the name of each of Canada's major conflicts during the First World War. The stone walls were originally to have been inscribed with the names of all Canada's servicemen and women who had died during the First World War; but, without enough space for all 66,000 names it was later decided to place Books of Remembrance there instead; these books list all Canadian soldiers, airmen, and seamen who died in service of the Crown—whether that of Britain (before 1931) or that of Canada (after 1931)—or allied countries in foreign wars, including the Nile Expedition and Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War. The displays were later modified to represent a broader overview of Canadian armed conflict, both foreign and domestic, since Confederation in 1867. 'Dawn of Peace' one of the memorial chambers' windows represents and records the following;

Four figures across the top portion. The first of these is the figure of the Victory of Peace, holding both a palm branch and the sword of judgement, while a dove flies overhead. The second person shown is that of Prosperity, who holds a wheat sheaf and a sicle, and, next to him, is Progress, bearing a winged wheel and with the Lamp of Knowledge above his head. The fourth figure is Plenty, symbolising the replenishment of both material and spirit through noble pursuit. Arranged in the lower portion of the window is a crowd of people assembled in peace and led by three figures in the foreground and bearing the symbols of their trades: Industry holds a mallet and dynamo, Agriculture bears a scythe, Honour carries a torch inscribed with words from John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields: BE THE TORCH YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH, and Motherhood, who is surrounded by children. At the base of the second and third panels are the phrases: HE MAKETH WARS TO CEASE, from Psalm 46:9, and JUDGEMENT SHALL RETURN UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS, from Psalm 94:15.

Near the apex, just below the steeply pitched roof, are the tower's 4.8 m (16 ft) diameter clock dials, one on each of the four facades. The mechanical workings of the timepiece were manufactured by the Verdin Company, and are set by the National Research Council Time Signal. This interesting article appears in the Public Works & Government Services site of http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

'Time passes, but certain key features of Parliament Hill remain unchanged. The clock in the Peace Tower, presented to Canada by the government of the United Kingdom to mark the 60th anniversary of Confederation, has been ticking in the heart of our capital since 1927. The original timekeeping mechanism built by British clockmakers no longer works and has since been replaced. The original mechanism is now exhibited inside a glass case in the observation area of the Peace Tower, visible to the public as they emerge from the elevator. The clock faces have particular aesthetic value. They were assembled with great care and precision. The metal and glass faces are constructed of bronze segments bolted together.

The glass sections, slotted into the frame, are held in place by small bronze angles and bedded in putty. The hands are made of riveted aluminum. The clock faces are driven by an electric motor. The master clock that controls the electric motor driving the hands is located on the fifth floor of the Peace Tower. This master clock is set according to the time of the atomic clock at the National Research Council in Ottawa. The clock mechanism cannot be set back, as a consequence, when the clock is set back in the fall, a Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) employee stops the mechanism, located on the fifth floor of the Tower, and reactivates it an hour later. This time change is usually accomplished during the night. To put the clock forward in the spring, all that needs to be done is to move the hand of the master clock on the fifth floor. When this is done, the timekeeping and chime mechanisms must be disconnected so that the chimes, set to sound every 15 minutes, do not ring during the process.'

A Horology Collection to Honour His Son Killed in Action WW2.

An outstanding collection of clocks and watches and their related story deserves its entry into this archive.

The original museum collection was founded upon the Gershom Parkington Collection, bequeathed to the Borough of St Edmundsbury, in 1953 by Frederic Gershom Parkington, in memory of his son John, who was killed in the Second World War. The collection included sundials, clocks, watches, mechanisms and clockmakers' equipment. Additions have continued to be made ever since, and it was one of the finest public collections of time-measurement instruments in the world. His will bequeathed the clocks etc as follows; ''...all time pieces and books relating to the measurement of time in memory of his son John Gershom Parkington who was killed in the last war. Dated 22/12/1951."

Frederic conducted the local orchestra at Bridlington Spa for a time, and broadcast for the BBC for almost thirty years. Professionally, he always used the name Gershom Parkington. He was so popular that in 1934, W D and H O Wills included him as number 15 of their series of 50 Cigarette Cards called "Wills Radio Celebrities."

Frederic was born in 1886, seven years after the rest of his brothers and sisters. His parents gave him the name Gershom from the Bible, where it is said to mean 'a little surprise', although he used to say afterwards that it really meant ‘the unwanted one'.

As a hobby, Gershom Parkington bought rare clocks, watches, sundials and sand-glasses, largely through a specialist dealer named Percy Webster, of Queen Street, Mayfair, and built up a notable collection with a national reputation.

It was this collection which he left to the town of his birth on condition that it was named the John Gershom Parkington Memorial Collection. Frederic died on 23rd January 1952, in Jersey.

His son John, pictured left, was with The Royal Corps of Signalmen, and was killed in action on 8 April 1941, at Libya, when 2nd Armoured Division were caught in a pincer movement by both Panzers and the Italian Army. He is buried at Alamein Memorial Cemetary in Libya.

John Gershom Parkington killed in Action WW2 (1920-1941)

Regrettably, the collection (in the face of great protest) was dismantled and dispersed to other local museums. From 2007 there is a new gallery displaying some of the clock collection to be found in Moyse's Hall Museum, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England.

This Lantern Clock is a typical example of that to be found in the collection.

During my time on BBC Radio Devon, we held a competition to find the oldest clock in Devon, England. The winner was a local Lantern Clock circa 1650 (Cathy).

The typical Lantern Clock is made of brass, and resembles the shape of the old lanterns, and it is assumed that its name was derived from this similarity. 'Haggar and Miller' ('Suffolk Clocks & Clockmakers' by Arthur Haggar and Leonard Miller 1974) are inclined to doubt this theory, preferring a derivation from the old term for brass, which was "latten" or "latten metal." They cite old wills which refer to latten clocks specifically.

The magnificent Clock tower of the former Argyll Motor Works Company, in Alexandria, West Dumbartonshire, Scotland, strikes eleven as it would have done during both the 1914 and 1939 World Wars.

Originally founded by Mr Alex Govan in 1899 it produced the 'Argyll Voiturette' motor car.

Over its turbulent history, the factory was used as a munitions and torpedo factory. In 1914, it was sold to the Admiralty for £153,000.

After its closure in 1914, the factory was taken over by Armstrong Whitworth for munitions production, and then in 1916, by the Ministry of Munitions. Although its product was shells, the factory came to be known as the Gun Works.

The factory lay mainly abandoned, until 1936, when the Admiralty took possession and began torpedo production there, as part of the country's re-armament programme. This was soon followed by the need to expand existing output from the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory (RNTF) at Greenock, to meet the growing demand of WW2. By 1943, this requirement had grown to such an extent that all manufacture was to be moved from Greenock to Alexandria, which would then become the RNTF, leaving Greenock to be used as an experimentation and design establishment. The move was completed in 1947, and the new RNTF continued to produce torpedoes until the 1950s. During the 1960s, the factory took part in a top secret Cold War project, Project Chevaline. This work centred on increasing the survivability of nuclear warheads fitted to Polaris ballistic missiles. Completion of work on this final project in 1969 also marked the the closure of the factory, and the transfer of its remaining work to Weymouth.

This Pocket Watch denotes the exact time a nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan - Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m. The Atomic Bomb Known as "Little Boy" was dropped by an American B-29 bomber, the 'Enola Gay' near the end of World War II. The bombing is recorded as being retaliatory for the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour which took place at 7:55 am, local (Hawaii) time, 12:55 Eastern time. The attack on Pearl Harbour was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan). The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.

The image above is of a 'Jaz' alarm clock which has been kindly contributed by Taff Gillingham - Twitter account; @Taff_Gillingham. It was picked up by Mr Stan Catchpole of Ipswich, on the beach at Dunkirk in Normandy, France in WW2. Taff also graciously provided the following information relating to Stan, one of our WW2 heroes. ..'Stan was a Militiaman 1938, BEF/Dunkirk 1940. He landed on D-Day. Stan was captured at Chateau de la Londe 28.6.44, German POW. Repatriated to 8/Suffolk, West Indies, played a few games with Ipswich Town 1st team while in the army. Stan married a Land Girl'. This heart felt tribute rounds off Taff's contribution. 'He was a lovely fella and a true ole Suffolk soldier'. Further images of the reverse of this Jaz timepiece are to follow.

In 1919, a small group of French engineers spotted a gap in the market for an alarm clock that would get the working day started, thereby increasing national productivity. They created a manufacturing process that would mass produce not only an aesthetically pleasing (consistent with many Art Deco pieces) but also a high quality alarm clock, which would be capable of competing with foreign imports. Their target market was 'the workers' and were highly selective in their means of advertising. When the Nazis invaded France, they objected to the use of the word JAZ as it could be interpreted as a symbol of 'decadent American music'. To circumvent their objection (and consequent potential closure of the production plants) the directors explained that the name JAZ referred to a small bird, the 'Jaseur Boréal' and bore no relation to the music. As a result, all clocks manufactured after 1942 had a little bird stamped above the Jaz name. The bird's tail was directed downward and this was used until 1967, when the bird's tail was then directed upward.
After 1975, the bird disappeared and the name JAZ now appeared under the number 12. Above; A typical example of a Jaz, Art Deco Bakelite alarm clock circa 1935.
The origins of the brand name JAZ are unclear. There are two schools of thought: one subscribes to the idea that it was the first letter of the family names of the original three engineers, and the other that it was a nod to the new American music sweeping the Continent at the time - which of course was denied during the Nazi invasion outlined above.
The above information regarding the Jaz Company is by kind courtesy of 'Sushi's' fascinating blog at https://www.blogger.com

A typical example of a magazine advert capitalizing on romantic images of the war. It portrays an American soldier with his sweetheart who could become closer over the miles by purchasing a 'Gruen' watch. The Gruen company was an American Company, and founded by the German born horologist Dietrich Gruen 1847-1911, in Columbus, Ohio, in 1894. This image was kindly sourced and provided by Rosalind Sinclair @RosiesWW11.

These images are kindly donated by the nephew of The Right Reverend Norman Stewart de Jersey (1866 - 1934) MA DD, Naval Chaplain during WW1. This watch was worn by him during the Jutland Campaign 31 May to 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle fought by the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet (which also included ships and personnel from the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Canadian Navy against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. Norman de Jersey went on to become Bishop of the Falkland Islands from 1919 - 1934.

The Significance of Time Synchronisation During Times of Conflict

PrimeTime of Exeter is grateful to Mr Derek Gregory for this extract from his outstanding posting on http://geographicalimaginations.com in which he captures many poignant descriptions - contemporary and otherwise - of the essence of time, as witnessed and recorded by those experiencing it during times of conflict.

In an opening piece to German officer Ernst Junger's experiences on the Western Front during WW1 (told in his diarised 1920s book 'Storm of Steel') the intricately choreographed calibration of time during the coordination of battle is succinctly portrayed;

‘The roads were choked with columns of marching men, innumerable guns and an endless supply column. Even so, it was all orderly, following a carefully worked-out plan by the general staff. Woe to the outfit that failed to keep to its allotted time and route; it would find itself elbowed into the gutter and having to wait for hours till another slot fell vacant’ (pp. 222-3).

But how, exactly, were these offensive and logistical timetables orchestrated? What was the mechanism for what Billy Bishop (a Canadian pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the Battle of Arras April 14, 1917) referred to as ‘clockwork warfare’;

Jünger himself provides just one (German) example: ‘‘To keep everyone synchronised, on the dot of noon every day a black ball was lowered from the observation balloons, which disappeared at ten past twelve.’ This was presumably a battlefield adaptation of the ‘time-balls’ that had been developed by the British and then the US navies in the nineteenth century, but other ways of marking time on the Front seem to have been more common. There is a time-ball still in use at a jewellers in Bolton (see below.) Please also see Ernst Junger's entry in the Time Capsules page.

Two technologies were pressed into service by the Allies; they can both be seen in this synchronisation instruction contained in Operation Order (no 233) from the 112th Infantry Brigade on 10 October 1918:

O.C. No.2 Section, 41st Divisional Signal Company, will arrange for EIFFEL TOWER Time to be taken at 11.49 on “J” minus one day ["J" was the day of the attack] and afterwards will synchronise watches throughout the Brigade Group by a “rated” watch

The first technology emerged from the Eiffel Tower – or, more accurately, the time-signal transmitted from the Eiffel Tower throughout the war. In 1909 the original twenty-year lease for the Tower was about to expire, and many Parisians loathed it (Maupassant famously had lunch there every day because it was the one place in the city from which it couldn’t be seen) so that its demolition seemed imminent. But it was saved in large measure because the French military was persuaded of its strategic value as a navigation and wireless beacon. Eiffel had allowed the Minister of War to place antennas at the top in 1903, and the Bureau des Longitudes (under the direction of Henri Poincaré) urged the development of the military radio-telegraphic station to broadcast time-signals twice daily. The original intention was to enable mariners to set their chronometers, but the project had a wider strategic, scientific and symbolic significance.

An experimental service started in 1909, and the French Army began broadcasts on 23 May 1910; by June 1913 a regular time service (based on transmissions from the master-clock at the Paris Observatory to the Tower) was in operation. This continued throughout the war and in to the 1920s; the ‘ordinary time signals’, which were broadcast each day at 10.45 a.m., 10.47 a.m. and 10.49 a.m. and again at 11.45 p.m., 11.47 p.m. and 11.49 p.m., enabled ‘an expert observer, under the most favourable circumstances, to take the time to nearly 0.1 second’.

The second technology was utilised via the wrist watch and how they were synchronised. Usually Signals Officers or orderlies were ordered to report to headquarters, as in this Instruction from the 169th Infantry Brigade on 14 August 1914:Units will synchronise watches by sending orderlies to be at Brigade Headquarters with watches to receive the official time on “Y” day at the following hours:- 9 a.m, 5 p.m., 8 p.m And again, in this Operation Order from the 89th Infantry Brigade on 29 July 1916:'One Officer from each Company will report to Battalion Headquarters in the SUNKEN ROAD at 2.30 a.m. 30th July, to synchronise watches'...

Centralisation also requires re-distribution amongst all troops, as this order from 112 Infantry Brigade later in October 1918 makes clear:Watches will be synchronised at 0630, 20th inst. Brigade Signal Officer will send watch round Units. The longest serving English poet and author, Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974)describes the practice in 'Undertones of War': ... ‘Watches were synchronized and reconsigned to the officers’; and again: ‘A runner came round distributing our watches, which had been synchronized at Bilge Street ['battle headquarters']‘.

Intelligence officers from 4th Brigade Australian Imperial Force (AIF) originally formed in September 1914, synchronising watches near Hamelet, 3 July 1918 (Kind courtesy Australian War Memorial)

The time ball mentioned above can be found at the jewellers, Preston's of Bolton, England. The jewellers is within a terracotta building surmounted with a large domed clock tower. The time ball above the dome used to be raised at 9.00am, and fell at 10.00am on receiving a telegraph from Greenwich.

Recently renovated by craftsman Martyn Heath, the new time ball was positioned above the Prestons of Bolton jewellery shop in Deansgate. The original time ball was positioned on the clock tower in1913. It signalled the time to millworkers for many years but was removed in 1998. The replacement ball is made of brass and gold leaf, and its vertical shafts are made of brass. The device has been manufactured by Peter Dooley Design Ltd of Macclesfield. We understand the only other remaining time balls in the UK are at Greenwich in London and Deal in Kent.

The Fascinating Mystery of 'Findlaters Clock'

“Head south over London Bridge, towards Borough High Street, the old coaching road to Kent. Southwark cathedral crouches to the right and the clumsy bulk of the station’s viaduct looms ahead. Look for a once-splendid, once-white façade: an elaborate blend of arch, balustrade and ornament, with carved swags of hops, grapes and even a stag’s head. Now grey with soot, this, like Miss Havisham’s wedding-cake, is a ghost of a building". These are the opening words to one of the chapters from the intriguing book, ‘The Final Whistle: the Great War in Fifteen Players’by Mr Stephen Cooper @GreatWarRugby who drew our attention to a very mysterious tale relating to this imposing clock. The tale has also been exhibited on http://londonhistorians.wordpress.com as a guest posting;

"A London Bridge mystery, demystified". 10 March, 2013 by Mike Paterson;A Guest Post by Stephen Cooper." "In research for my book of the Great War told through the experiences of men from one London rugby club, I stumbled across a neglected landmark with a poignant tale. In 2010 I wrote these opening words for a chapter: “Head south over London Bridge, towards Borough High Street, the old coaching road to Kent. Southwark cathedral crouches to the right and the clumsy bulk of the station’s viaduct looms ahead. Look for a once-splendid, once-white façade: an elaborate blend of arch, balustrade and ornament, with carved swags of hops, grapes and even a stag’s head. Now grey with soot, this, like Miss Havisham’s wedding-cake, is a ghost of a building. The hands of its clock with black Roman numerals are fixed at 11.47 as they have been since the early 1960s. Ragged shrubs sprout from crevices where no plant should grow, and the faïence frontage offers a tempting canvas to the graffiti artist. This wan face among grimy walls and thrusting plate-glass neighbours like the Shard is a ghostly survivor from another era. It is a corner of the capital where time has indeed stopped. For over a century, Findlater’s Corner has been a familiar sight to the southbound City worker, ‘passed or seen by more persons every day than any other spot in London’*. The current structure is shrunken from its Victorian original by the encroachments of railway and advertising hoardings. Peter Ackroyd’s London the Biography observes the lingering spirit of place that binds many capital landmarks to their past. Call this instead a ‘place of spirit’, for today it is a branch of an eccentric national wine-seller, evoking its first incarnation in 1856 as headquarters of Findlater, Mackie, Todd & Co. Ltd, Wine & Spirit Merchants. In the cruellest month of April 1915, a boy brings a curt telegram from the War Office to these same premises, addressed to the Chairman. Its formulaic words, by now dreaded in households across the country, regret a death in the family. A brother, husband and father are all fallen in one man. Since that day another spirit has haunted this corner: the gregarious wine-merchant, soldier and international rugby player, Alec Todd.” The chapter goes on to tell of Todd’s experience as a British Lion rugby player in South Arica in 1896, of his fighting the Boer War there four years later and of his death near Ypres in 1915. He had nominated his brother, James, as Next of Kin (NOK) so that wife Alice would not hear the fateful knock at her Ascot door. He was shot through the neck at Hill 60 east of Ypres on April 18. The National Archive shows a flurry of telegrams from the War Office to the Norfolk Regiment depot to ascertain the correct NOK. By the time the ‘serious wounding’ telegram arrives at Findlater’s Corner three days later, CaptainTodd is dead in a Casualty Clearing Station near Poperinghe. The stopped clock was much photographed and internet searches revealed a history of graffiti headaches for the Council. The romantic in me speculated whether the telegram had arrived at 11:47 that April morning in 1915. Had the clock stopped perhaps on the 50th anniversary of Alec’s death? No way of knowing, but it made a good story. That is, until October 27, 2012. This was the afternoon, three months after the book’s publication, when riding over London Bridge on my trusty Vespa, I glanced up to find the hands at 02:30. Aghast, I enquired inside: ‘Ah, that would be Boris’, I was told. Turns out our esteemed Mayor, bicycling to a meeting at his nearby City Hall, had trusted the clock’s time, only to arrive late. In a fit of civic efficiency, he commanded that a Derby clockmaker be summoned to restore the clock and change the ‘hands of time’. Thanks, Boris. The story is too good to lose, but I have relegated the Mayor’s intervention to a footnote – by way of revenge. Todd maintains his mystique even in death. He is buried in ‘Pop’ but is also named on the Menin Gate, memorial to those with no known grave. Better that he is doubly remembered than he, or any man, be forgotten." Findlater clock Image is by kind courtesy of Mr Stephen May.

Stop All the Clocks...Rosslyn Park unveils new War Memorial with 1914 vintage rugby gameThank you to Stephen Cooper @GreatWarRugby and @rosslynpark for this wonderful image and information.

It is a memorable and heartfelt tribute organised by Stephen as Chairman, and from the team and fans to former players, and all from Rosslyn Park who gave their lives during WW1.

the ground's clock was stopped at this poignant moment during the game on 29 March 2014.

The following press release provides information on the historic day that took place;

On 29 March [2014] Rosslyn Park FC will unveil a new Memorial to honour its 108 members who died in the First World War. The occasion will also be marked by a special Memorial Match, played in replica kit of the Great War era, with leather ball, and refereed to the 1914 Laws of the Game. The unveiling will take place at 1130, before the club’s National League top-table clash against Doncaster Knights, which kicks off at 3pm. The 1914 game will follow this match at 5pm. The unveiling will be attended by Bill Beaumont, Chairman of the Rugby Football Union and former captain of England and the British & Irish Lions, the Hon Justine Greening, MP for Putney and serving members of the British Army. The new Memorial replaces the original which was mysteriously lost when the club moved in 1955 from Old Deer Park, Richmond to Roehampton. The story is told in the award-winning book ‘The Final Whistle: the Great War in Fifteen Players’ by Stephen Cooper.

Research by the author has now uncovered 108 names, each of which will be read out by a broad selection of the club’s community, from mini players to past England internationals and by family descendants of those who died between 1914 and 1919. This will be followed by a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

Geoff Bayles, President, Rosslyn Park said: “This is a Club with a great past which we honour with this memorial, as well as a great future - both in a thriving National League 1st XV and with our thriving junior section, the biggest in the country. This occasion will help our younger generation to understand what this club stands for and, in this Centenary year of 2014, to appreciate the sacrifice made by so many men a century ago, when rugby players led on the battlefield, as they did on the sports field. This is a day when the Rosslyn Park family will come together to remember them.”Very Kind Courtesy of Stephen Cooper @GreatWarRugby.

Brave Hearts

The Hearts Football Team War Memorial, pictured left, in the 1920s and 1960s.

“There are football teams out there with much greater playing records than Hearts, but there isn’t a football team with anything like Heart of Midlothian’s record of horrible sacrifice.” The words of historian Jack Alexander about the actions of a group of men 100 years ago will be endorsed by all those who support the maroon half of Edinburgh, and many others.In the final months of 1914, as WW1 settled into its deadly stalemate and public opinion started to turn against footballers for playing on while others went to fight, Hearts players signed up en masse to the 16th Royal Scots - commonly referred to as ‘McCrae’s Battalion’. Hearts were the first football team to join up together, while players from Hibs, Falkirk, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers were among the others who also served. By the end of the war, seven Hearts players - Duncan Currie, John Allan, James Boyd, Tom Gracie, Ernest Ellis, James Speedie and Harry Wattie - had all made the ultimate sacrifice. In 1922, in honour of the Hearts team and those they fought beside, a clock tower war memorial was built in the Edinburgh’s Haymarket. The memorial was moved five years ago to accommodate tram works. It was put in storage, and there were fears at the time that it may never return to Haymarket and be moved to another location in the city. But those fears never became a reality. A spokesman for the City of Edinburgh Council said the re-instalment of the war memorial will take place at its old location at Haymarket in June. Further details will be announced by the local authority in the next few weeks. For Jack, a 50-year-old historian who has acted on behalf of Friends of Heart of Midlothian War Memorial - a campaign group which is committed to the return of the clock tower to Haymarket - it will be a special moment. “I don’t think anybody, perhaps other than tie (Transport Initiatives Edinburgh), wanted the memorial to be removed from the junction at all,” he commented. “The most important thing is it is coming back. We are going to have a chance to reorientate it so it is pointing the right way this time, and put some nice landscaping around it. “It is important to me, as a historian, because it is visible in Haymarket. The people that built it put it there, and it is not our business 100 years later to second guess them. “It is arguably the busiest junction in Edinburgh. Everybody that goes past it sees it and that is something that we want to preserve.” The war memorial remembers a Hearts team who, like everybody else, had their lives changed by the outbreak of war in 1914. Regarded as one of the best teams in Scotland at the time, two Hearts players - Geordie Sinclair and Neil Moreland - were called up the day after war was declared against Germany as they were army reservists. A few months later, Jimmy Speedie decided to volunteer. However, some members of the public, in the years before conscription, questioned why fit and healthy footballers were enjoying sport while other men were dying in the fields of France.

When Sir George McCrae raised a new battalion 13 more Hearts players decided to do their bit and enlisted together in November, 1914. Football did not stop, and after conscription was introduced in 1916 the Hearts team was made up of guest players, servicemen on leave, youths and men engaged in vital war work.

Alex Knight, a club archivist with Hearts, uncovered a song by T M Davidson and David Stephen called Hearts Lead The Way which captures the spirit behind those volunteering players:

When the Empire is in danger, and we hear our country's call,

The Mother’s land may count on us to leave the leather ball.

We've hacked our way in many a fray, we've passed and gone for goal,

But a bigger field awaits us, and we were keen to join the roll.

On July 1, 1916, McCrae’s Battalion fought alongside many others on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. That day remains the darkest in the history of the British Army, with 20,000 dead and 40,000 more injured. Three Hearts players were amongst those killed.Jack, the Director of the McCrae’s Battalion Trust, said: “In the First World War, Scotland lost a higher proportion of its young men than any other nation that took part. We forget that generation at our peril.“The houses those men lived in are still standing, their sons and daughters are still alive. It is very recent history and something the city of Edinburgh has a responsibility to remember with pride.“An old lady, whose father was in the battalion and died alongside the Hearts players in 1916, once said to me that the stones around the base of the clock tower are stained with tears of generations of people who stood there and had come to remember.”

Jack, who is not a Hearts fan, also believes the act of sacrifice by the Hearts players had far wider significance for the game of football in the UK. He added. “In 1914, there was a completely unjustifiable campaign of vilification directed at professional footballers on the basis that they should play football while other men were serving at the front.“Then, just like today, a great many football teams were trading well above their capacity to pay their bills. If football had been suspended by the government, there is no doubt that a number of large clubs would have went out of business.“The enlistment of the Hearts players singlehandedly prevented football from being stopped. The very day the Prime Minister was being asked to stop the game in Parliament, the Hearts players joined up and the Prime Minister was able to mention in Parliament that the example in Scotland proved football didn’t need to be suspended.“There are big teams playing today, in English and Scottish football, that would not have been able to sustain the debts they were carrying if they weren’t able to play ever week.”

For Hearts fans, they are just pleased that their war memorial will soon be back at its Haymarket home.Bill Alves, Chairman of Heart of Midlothian Shareholders Association, has been attending games regularly since the 1970s. The 63-year-old said: “For me, the most privileged thing I am able to do as chairman of the shareholders is to lay a wreath there on Remembrance Day.“The memorial has been part of my life and Haymarket’s life for a long time. It is arguably Hearts’ proudest moment when the whole team volunteered to fight in 1914. It is part of Edinburgh, it is not just part of the club, so it will be great to have it back.”

Allan Black is a Hearts fan from Linlithgow. He is a retired army Major after serving for 23 years. He added: “It is almost unique, what it represents, and it is very important to the history and tradition of Hearts but also of the city of Edinburgh.“I am looking forward to the Remembrance Day gatherings being held with the memorial. The original location was chosen for its prominence and significance. No other location will provide the same honour to what it represents and to all the memories it engenders.“It has always been part of the fabric of Edinburgh and of the club, for me. The Remembrance Day gathering would not be the same elsewhere.”

Terry O'Donnell from the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs said: “The Federation fully supports the ethos of the clock and all that it stands for. We are glad to see the Memorial being returned to its rightful position.“The time however this has taken is nothing short of disgraceful. “I was first taken to the service by my late father when I was just a youngster and it helped me to understand exactly what being a supporter of the Heart of Midlothian was all about, pride, respect and comradeship.”

A special memorial to those who lost their lives in McCrae’s Battalion stands in Contalmaison Chateau Cemetery in France and is visited by football fans every year.

A pocket watch belonging to one of the survivors of the Lusitania ocean liner that sank in 1915, has been valued at £1,000 despite its inoperative state.

Frank Holman, a waiter on the liner, was wearing the timepiece when the ship was hit by a German torpedo.

The watch stopped at the moment Mr Holman fell into the Atlantic Ocean, where he was forced to tread water for five hours before he was eventually rescued.

His daughter, Mrs Barbara Wiffen who has owned the pocket watch since her father's passing told the BBC Antiques Roadshow: 'My late father, Frank Holman, was on the Lusitania at the time she was torpedoed.

The torpedo struck I understand at twelve minutes past two and his watch stopped at two twenty eight when he hit the water. He didn't speak about it very much because he found it very traumatic, but he was in the water for five hours before he was picked up.

At one stage he found a young boy who was obviously in difficulties and my father swam for some time with with his hands clasped round his neck but as time went on it became obvious to him that the lad had unfortunately passed away. 'So regrettably he had to release him, and I think that stayed with him for the rest of his life. When I was a child, I used to hear him shouting in his sleep.'

Antiques Roadshow expert Hilary Kay insisted that the watch would generate much interest despite the relic not functioning. She told the show: 'Lusitania artifacts have appeared on the market in the past, and they always create a stir, particularly in The States, of course. I would see this certainly fetching £1,000 at auction, if not more.

'Over a thousand people were drowned, of which over a hundred were American civilians, and it was what brought America eventually into the First World War. 'So it is an incredibly important piece of 20th century history. And we have a piece of memorabilia here which I find incredibly resonant.'

Despite the valuation, Mr Holman's daughter insisted that she would never part with the watch given its sentimental value.

The ship, bound for Liverpool from New York, sank in approximately 18 minutes, claiming the lives of 1,959 passengers in the process.

WW1/WW2 Montilier Silver Pocket Watch. Extraordinary example of how a matter of centimetres can mean the difference between life and death! This image demonstrates how lives may have been saved by items that were being carried by soldiers at the time.

It is more likely to be an example of Trench Art. The term "Trench Art" originates from a WWI-era French publication, which illustrated objects made from military equipment or spent war materials by “artisanat de tranchées” (craftsmen of the trenches). For more information on Trench Art please see: Steven Booth's wonderful site http://www.trenchartofww1.co.uk

The 'Fabrique d’Horlogerie Montilier', and the later 'Montilier Watch Co.' received many awards at world exhibitions; such as Paris 1878, & 1889, Liege in 1930 and Brussels in 1935. The quality of these watches was so high they became almost legendary. Even military watches were manufactured by Montilier right through until the 1950’s.

The Montilier Watch Company Circa 1938

Making The Railways Run on Time

Not the statement often misquoted and affiliated with Italy's dictator Mussolini, rather a worthy entry into this archive relating to the Santa Fe Railroad which was instrumental to troop and supply transportation during WW2. With thanks to www.americainwwii.com

''The biggest steam locomotives ever, were produced during the WW2 years. In 1944, the Union Pacific took delivery of Big Boy, the largest 'iron horse' in history at 132 feet long and 1.2 million pounds. The entire railroad industry was in flux. Train traffic had been in decline since the 1920s due to the Depression, the proliferation of automobiles and the nationwide expansion of paved roads, the improved efficiency of the trucking industry, and the birth of the air age in the 1930s. The war gave railroads a fleeting opportunity to regain their glory. Americans cut down on driving during the war, compelled by gas and tire rationing. When they needed alternative transportation, they often took the train. It didn’t take long for trains to become overloaded with vacationers, soldiers on furlough, and families traveling to visit loved ones at military bases. A despatch worker at the Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railroad offices Circa 1943.Note the commanding regulator clock to the right of the picture, which appears to house the “Santa Fe Railway System Standard Dial” with Montgomery* minute numbering that was unique to the Santa Fe line.(image courtesy of Shorpy/Pinterest.com)*Henry S. Montgomery was Santa Fe Railway’s general watch and clock inspector from 1896 to 1923, and by 1906 perfected a dial with upright minutes, from 1 to 60, printed on the outermost part of pocket watch and clock dials (see below).

Reservations for spots in Pullman sleeping cars were so hard to come by that 'scalpers' [touts] made a fortune buying and reselling them.

Besides commercial passenger traffic, the rails were also filled with troop trains moving large numbers of GIs from base to base or toward the coasts on the way overseas. Trains handled 98 percent of military personnel traffic. “Hundreds of trains would go by every day, and many were troop trains,” remembered Kathleen Tuo-hey, a year out of high school and working in Kansas City, Missouri. “Occasionally, when young girls (including me) would be outside on a lunch hour we would throw a note with our name and address on it to the servicemen hanging out of the train windows hoping they would write to us. I corresponded with one serviceman that way.”

Servicemen’s canteens and other refreshment and entertainment facilities cropped up at high-traffic railroad stations across the country. “There were USOs (United Servicemen’s Organizations) and Service Men’s Clubs in various parts of town, especially near a train or bus depot,” recalled Tuohey. “There were places servicemen could go to clean up, write letters, get some food and entertainment, before traveling on.” Volunteers greeted GIs passing through and helped prepare and serve food and drinks. High Volumes of Troops & Military Vehicles were Transported by Rail during WW2.

As many as 10,000 servicemen passed through Nebraska’s storied North Platte Canteen during the war.

Rail traffic got so heavy during the war that the railroad industry began to discourage people from traveling. At one point, Florida ran radio and print ads to prod Northerners to flee the cold of winter for warmer climes. Railroads countered with an unusual anti-promotional strategy. “It’s only fair to tell you trains are crowded these days,You’ll be more comfortable at home'' read an Atlantic Coast Line advert. Freight trains, too, were packed. By 1945, loads being transported about the country by rail had doubled since pre-war days, and rail carried 90 percent of all freight. The boom in traffic was not matched by a proportional addition of new railcars, and the larger loads and greater use put extra wear and tear on the existing, aging equipment. Accidents increased suddenly and alarmingly.

All the wartime growth on the rails would have come to a screeching halt if unions had decided to stir up trouble. They could have made it extremely difficult for the military to move personnel, and could have all but shut down the large-scale delivery of military and non-military goods. Fortunately, union leaders generally made good on their 1941 promise to President Franklin Roosevelt not to call a strike during the war. One of the few aberrations happened in December 1944—a strike that General of the Army George C. Marshall (left) called “the damnedest crime ever committed against America.”

Marshall’s harsh words were mostly bluster, but they revealed a fear of what could have been. Instead, the mammoth trains that loosed the last great hurrah of the US railroad live on as icons in modern memory—in songs, in toy train sets at Christmastime, in movies, and in the American imagination.''

The transport and movement of high volumes of troops and supplies on the railroads was vital during WW2. The timing of such movement was equally crucial.

Henry S. Montgomery was the General Watch and Clock Inspector of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) from 1896 to 1923. During the first decade of the twentieth century he patented a marginal minute dial that had three distinctive features (left). The patent has been lost, but the features of a true Montgomery Dial are known from Montgomery’s writings. Firstly, the marginal minute numbers were all upright, as opposed to radial numbers which were used on other dial designs. Secondly, the five minute numbers were slightly larger than the other minute numbers. Frequently, the five minute numbers are red, whereas the remainder are black. However, it is not known if the five minute numbers being red was a patented feature. Finally, the sixth hour figure is included, contained within the seconds bit. The sixth hour figure is generally unusual amongst pocket watch dials.

It is known that Montgomery's marginal minute dial appeared on Santa Fe Railway Clocks in 1900 and was subsequently applied to a variety of clocks. A notice in the Jewelers' Circular, posted by Robert Sweet, shows that Montgomery's dial was in use on watches accepted for railroad time service on the Santa Fe in late 1899. By 1906, it was being referred to as the AT&SF's standard dial, as evidenced by this extract:

Rule 4 - “Fancy” dials or those other than regular factory product, vis.: plain Arabic or Roman figures or the Company's standard dial are prohibited.Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, 1906 rulesNote: The "Company's standard dial" that the rule referred to was Montgomery's marginal minute dial.

​During a recent visit to London we visited the Churchill War Rooms and experienced the underground hub of the Government WW2 command centre.

The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the Second World War, and the Churchill Museum, a biographical museum exploring the life of Winston Churchill. ​

The 'Beauty Chorus'

​The nickname for the many telephones used within the Map Room of the Cabinet War Rooms

Taking a Bullet This is an image of a 'Full Hunter' pocket watch that is actually believed to have saved the life of an RAF servicewoman in World War Two - by stopping a bullet!

A perfect bullet-shaped crater is evident in the protective flip cover of the watch which also damaged the 11 o'clock marking on the watch dial.

The case of the watch is inscribed with the name 'Pte Hodgson' alongside the military number 2055250.The final words on the case read: 'Farnboro Hants.'

Details of the female RAF Private are sketchy but official military records reveal Pte Hodgson was a woman who served in the auxiliary corps of the RAF which was responsible for maintenance and delivering newly built planes to military bases across Britain in 1941.

Military experts believe the bullet which caused the impact dent may be a 30mm calibre round - ammunition used in the MK108 auto-cannon which was mounted on German aircraft fighter planes.

It is believed this watch saved the life of Pte Hodgson as she was wearing it after the round ricocheted off the watch - which was traditionally worn in the breast pocket of service personnel.

Remarkably, the watch was found dumped in the bottom of a box which was donated to the Forces Support charity, in Leominster, Herefordshire, on Saturday, March 3 2012.

Another possibility is that the watch was given to Pte Hodgson’s 'squaddie' sweetheart whose life could have been saved during a frontline battle.

The hunt continues for Pte Hodgson and a definitive conclusion to this fascinating mystery. Should you have any information regarding Pte Hodgson and/or this fantastical timepiece, please contact us.

The impact dent to the protective flip cover of the watch case believed to be caused by 30mm calibre round - ammunition used in the MK108 auto-cannon which was mounted on German aircraft fighter planes.

The 'Attagirls' the unsung heroines of World War 2 and the Battle of Britain. Pictured here; the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA)Between them, they delivered more than 308,000 aircraft from factories to airfields, also returning damaged aircraft for repair. Sometimes the ‘Attagirls’ would be given only 30 minutes with a handbook before taking off in an unfamiliar plane. Losses were considerable, with one in six becoming a casualty at one stage.

In their hastily adapted uniforms (one even had her jacket tailored in Savile Row) they became the darlings of the air – and the unsung heroines of the Battle of Britain. This was the forgotten army of women who broke through male-dominated prejudice to pilot the aircraft – and to deliver them for service in the front line. Only 164 women were allowed into the ATA.Back then, they had to show plenty of determination to convince military bosses that women were up to the task. Once accepted however, they said, they were treated no differently from the men.

Winston Churchill and his government, never underestimated the Attagirls contribution, and Lord Beaverbrook declared: ‘They were soldiers fighting in the struggle just as completely as if engaged on the battlefront.’

Amy Johnson, English aviator 1903-1941.

One of the first women to gain a pilot's licence, Johnson won fame when she flew solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. Her dangerous flight took 17 days. Later she flew solo to India and Japan and became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic East to West. She volunteered to fly for The Women's Auxiliary Air Force in WW2, but her plane was shot down over the River Thames and she was tragically killed.

Above left; Elizabeth L. Gardner, 'WASP',
at the controls of a B-26 Marauder during WW2. Above right; the brave Cornelia Fort [1919-1943] Member of 'WASP'. She was a witness to the Pearl Harbor attack and was the first American female aviator killed in active duty. The 3rd image shows an unknown WASP pilot in the cockpit of her plane.

America's ATA Known as 'Wasp' WW2.

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

WASP were the pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots, employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces during WW2.

They were amalgamated from The Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) WFTD and WAFS were merged on August 5, 1943, to create the paramilitary WASP organization.The female pilots of the WASP ended up numbering 1,074, each freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties. They flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft.The WASP was granted 'veteran' status in America in 1977, and awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

Wrist watches used by aviatorsat altitude would encounter different and varying conditions to those of their ground based army counterparts. Modifications were made to compensate for potential errors that may occur at speed and altitude.

Lieutenant Commander (Professor) Philip Van Horn Weems of the U S Navy, designed a watch with a rotatable subsidiary dial in the centre of the main dial, which could be synchronised with a sweeping seconds hand and a time signal (via a modified sextant). This option was used as an alternative to the 'hacking' device (the ability to stop the balance wheel in the movement by pulling out the crown and stem - which would stop the seconds hand - in order to synchronise the watch in accordance with an alloted, specific time.) The accuracy and quality of Weems' method of time keeping was notably superior.

These types of wrist watch were produced in large numbers by the Bulova, Elgin and Waltham watch companies throughout WW2. The Elgin Watch Company (a major American watch maker from 1864 until its closure in 1968) developed a synthetic watch oil with low solidification properties which permitted functionality in extremely low temperatures.

However, the Longines Watch Company were at the forefront of production, and also collaborated with Charles Lindbergh (who was a pupil of Weems) with the design of the 'hour angle' watch which modified Weems' innovation by allowing a pilot or navigator to determine the longitude accurately and reliably during flight when used with a sextant and a nautical almanac, by the hour angle of a given star. Please see Weems's design below.

Professor Philip Weems of the US Naval Academy, had spent much of his life improving on the techniques of celestial navigation, even founding his own school in 1928 to teach his own System. The "Weems" watch was first produced by Longines in 1929 and was the first wristwatch purpose-built for aeronautical astro-navigation, to be used in conjunction with a special airplane sextant, compass, and the best available navigational charts. This innovation is now referred to as the 'Longines' Weems. As noted above, It was a simple centre-seconds wristwatch with a rotatable seconds bezel and lock crown. At that time, centre-seconds were almost completely unknown in wristwatches.

This image of a Minerva RLM-Nav 5816 Edelstahl 501657 wrist watch has been kindly contributed by Mr Radmore of Exeter, Devon, England.

It belonged to his father. Mr Radmore says:

'The watch was worn by my Father for as long as I can remember.

He was born at Stag Lodge, Saltram, Plympton, Plymouth, and during WW2 there was a German PoW holding station at Chaddlewood, just a little way from Stag Lodge.

From what I can remember he told me there was an American troop based in the area, and his Parents farmed Stag Lodge and supplied the Americans with food.

How the watch came into his possession I don't know.

regards,R Radmore.

The Minerva Watch Company was essentially founded in 1858. Although, It is believed the earliest Minerva wristwatch was manufactured in 1909.

Significantly, it was the official timekeeper for the Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, during 1936.

The centre and right images above portray an 'Omega' 'Aviator' chronograph-wristwatch, Circa 1915, which belonged to 'Lawrence of Arabia' (shown in the left image wearing incongruously both the watch and his iconic headcloth or 'kufiya'.)
This watch of exceptional historical interest was worn by Thomas Edward Lawrence, British archaeologist, officer and writer, better known as Lawrence of Arabia (1888-1935). He was pivotal in galvanising the rebellion against Turkey from 1916 to 1918. Famously documented, and portrayed in various films, he was instrumental in freeing the Arabic Middle East countries. Note the caseback in the right image, which is engraved with an "A" (Aviation) and the "Broad Arrow", symbolic of the British army in which Lawrence initially served in 1914, as an interpreter and second lieutenant. He enlisted again on February 23, 1923 changing his pseudonym to T. E. Shaw, which was recently featured on BBC's Antique's Roadshow on a guarantee slip dated April 18, 1933. The following information was supplied by Jean-Luc Miranda of the Omega Museum in response to a query by Mr D Dennis, regarding the watch, some of the information has been modified to accommodate translation:
...It is a Calibre 18''' SO PB CHRO, with an enamel dial and Arabic numerals, with 24 hour small red numerals and 2 subsidiary dials- seconds at nine o'clock and 15-minute totalizer at 3 o'clock, and blued steel Empire hands. Lentil-shaped sterling silver case with a rose gold mono-pushbutton at 6 o'clock. Complete with a hinged caseback, curved integral lugs and fitted with a stitched leather strap and silver buckle.
The serial number 4'428'513 shown on its movement identifies this chronograph wristwatch was ordered on September 23, 1915 by France or one of its colonies. Other information regarding the watch is by kind courtesy of: Mr D Dennis at famouswatches.blogspot.co.uk and The Omega Museum.

The late Peter O'Toole 1932 - 2013 in the role of Lawrence of Arabia. There was an urban myth that O'Toole's watch switched from his left wrist to the right in the 1962 film. Archive restorer Robert A. Harris actually found this to be true, but apparently due to the second reel of movie being spliced in 'reverse'.

A Tribute To Mr Stanley Simon, Co-Founder of the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking.

Mr Stanley Simon, passed away at the age of 93 in 2010. He was instrumental in the rehabilitation of American soldiers from WW2 onward. He co-founded the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking. The following tribute is by Margalit Fox of the New York Times:

'They had fought in Italy and Normandy and North Africa and left pieces of themselves behind. At war’s end, few employers would touch them. So one by one, the men made their way to New York — to a red-brick schoolhouse in Woodside, Queens, built expressly for them — to become watchmakers.

Stanley Simon, second from right, at a ceremony for a watchmaking school for injured veterans.

For more than half a century after it opened in 1945, the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking trained disabled veterans in the horologist’s painstaking art. The very idea of rehabilitating the severely wounded was just entering the national discourse then; in wars past, such men often languished in hospitals to the ends of their lives. The Bulova school, considered a model of its kind, was a noteworthy example of industry playing a crucial role in veterans’ rehabilitation. It became the basis for similar programs throughout the United States and around the world. “A man does not have to be an athlete to repair watches,” Stanley Simon, one of the school’s founders, told The New York Times in 1946. The school was the brainchild of Arde Bulova, then chairman of the Bulova Watch Company. Conceived near the end of World War II, it was named for his father, Joseph, who had founded the company in New York in 1875. Mr. Simon, Bulova’s industrial relations director, shepherded the school into being. Long before the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 made such amenities familiar, he oversaw the construction of a building specifically tailored to the needs of disabled people. A handsome neo-Georgian structure designed by the Boston architectural firm Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, the Bulova school was on 62nd Street in Woodside. It had ramps and wide doorways to accommodate wheelchairs, and cork floors to give traction to crutches, among other features. In the lobby, murals depicted the history of timekeeping. The school charged no tuition in its early years; the craft it taught could be performed sitting down and, most important, rendered its students fully employable. Within months of its opening, jewelers around the country had pledged more than 1,400 jobs to Bulova school graduates. Mr. Simon also opened a branch of the school at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington; he later traveled to France to advise the French Red Cross on starting a watchmaking program there. Stanley Simon was born in Manhattan on July 7, 1917. In 1936, at 18, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard. Afterward, he worked on Wall Street before joining Bulova in 1943. On Aug. 23, 1944, a ceremony was held to lay the school’s cornerstone, inscribed, “To serve those who served us.” The next year, the school admitted its first class, about 20 men from across the country, who were housed with their families in apartments nearby. For most, as The New York Times later wrote, the school “was their first postwar experience outside hospitals.” Several students had lost legs. One, a former Brooklyn pipefitter named Ralph Padavano, had lost an arm: he was provided with a special prosthesis, which he helped design, that let him hold delicate watch parts without crushing them.

In 1946, after a year’s instruction, the men graduated. They were the first of many hundreds of graduates in the decades that followed, nearly all of whom went on to jobs in watch repair or allied fields like precision toolmaking. In 1957, with the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Bulova school started the National Wheelchair Games, held for many years on the school’s grounds. Mr. Simon became a vice president of Bulova in 1950; after Arde Bulova’s death in 1958, he left the company to open an international business consultancy. A longtime trustee of the Bulova school, Mr. Simon served on many corporate boards, including those of Vornado Realty Trust and Marcal Paper. The Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking endured for more than 50 years. The Korean War brought new pupils. So did Vietnam. Over time, the school admitted disabled civilians and, eventually, the nondisabled; its curriculum was broadened to include jewelry making. But by the end of the century, the waning demand for skilled artisans had made it impossible to hang on. The school closed in the late 1990s; the building is now home to the Queens stake (similar to a diocese) of the Mormon Church. It was not so much that the school Mr. Simon helped found had outlived its usefulness. It was, rather, from all appearances, that it had fallen victim to the prevailing culture, in which what is broken is not repaired but simply cast aside'.

Many people take comfort from the dependable, soothing tick, tick of their clock or watch.The following story is taken from an interview at NBCTV in 2011, with Mr Charles Woehrle, of the United States Eighth Air Force,who spent two years as a prisoner of war in Germany, and took great comfort (as did his fellow prisoners) along the way from his timepiece. This story exemplifies the emotional attachment people, and especially those in the Armed Forces have with their timepieces.

Interviewer; 'we'll talk to charles in a moment. but first, his story;In May 1943, Lieutenant Charles Woehrle was on a bombing mission off the coast of France when his b-17 came under attack.

Mr Charles Woehrle displaying the watch that helped him through the PoW camp.

His plane was hit and he started losing altitude. Lieutenant Woehrle had no choice but to bail out. He was captured and taken as a prisoner of war in Germany and held in Stalag Luft III at Sagan, East Germany. “As we dropped the bombs,” explains Woehrle, “I followed them in my sights. They went down like a school of fish. When I looked up I saw a lot of flak. The Germans had us. We were hit, losing four of our crew. It was a sad, sad day.” Woehrle parachuted from the aircraft but was captured shortly afterwards by the Germans and taken to Stalag Luft III. Almost one year into his captivity Lt Woehrle found a Patek Philippe promotional pamphlet with a small mail-in coupon for more information. Woehrle filled out the coupon and wrote a note requesting a watch for which he would pay when he got home after the war. He sent it off, not really holding out much hope.Mr Woehrle admitted; ' ..I had kind of forgot about it. several months went by and one morning we got a knock on our door and here was this perfectly beautiful wristwatch'. A letter was also included saying in part, 'we wish that this watch will give you full satisfaction'.

The arrival of the Patek Philippe provided a respite from the grinding, daily routine. Then came another, less welcome, change. In January, 1945, all the PoWs were abruptly moved to Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Bavaria; the Russians were approaching. The men travelled by foot, nearly 70 miles, in the freezing cold. Woehrle spent a gruelling four months at Stalag VII-A. It was, he recalls, “a real concentration camp. A very wretched place”.

After General Patton liberated the camp, Woehrle returned to his home in St Paul, Minnesota, America, when he paid for the watch. However; 40 years later in an unfortunate twist, his home was burgled, his watch was among the stolen items. his niece Louise who has been working on a documentary about her 94-year-old uncle contacted the Swiss watchmakers. Lt Woehrle eventually received a replacement with a view to restoring many memories of a time gone by. In an interview with CBN, he commented as follows;

Interviewer; Do you have the watch with you...

>> yes, but this is a replica of the one at the time?

The Patek Philippe (1461) worn by Woehrle while imprisoned.

>> it's very similar. although the early one was steel and this is gold. >> Interviewer; what memories came flooding back when you received that watch?

>> well, the overwhelming aspect of what was happening at all. it was so unbelievably unlikely that such a thing would happen, and it did.

>> Interviewer; a lot of us when we heard your story were surprised that you were able to order a watch while in captivity and even to receive a watch. what was it like when you would wear that around the camp? what was the reaction? what did it mean to the other prisoners?

>> well, they would never get enough of the watch. i would be on the circuit walking and they would say, charlie, let me see that watch again. i would hold out my hand and show them the watch. and it would not only thrilling and overwhelming for me to receive it, but it effected the whole camp.

>> Interviewer (speaking to Lt Woehrle's Niece) Louise, you were researching this documentary on your uncle's experience, this camp, which by the way was the camp where the great escape occurred. the watch kind of came along later in your research, didn't it?

>> it did. i had been shooting the documentary since 2009 , and we were returning from a Detroit reunion at the air force and i asked uncle Charles , i said, did you ever have a watch in camp. he said, let me tell you about a watch. i thought i had heard every story. and i heard it for the first time. and i couldn't believe it. it was such a joyful, hopeful story. and i was very excited about that.

>> Interviewer; and, Charles , you were surprised to receive the watch in the first place.

>> i was --

Woehrle (2nd from right) with his bunkmates in Moosburg, Germany after the 70 mile March from Stalag Luft III

>> Interviewer; the commandant wasn't going to allow you to have it.

>> it was four months. i had forgot about it. you put it in the mail. it's so dull in prison camp you're just looking for something from the outside'.

According to http://www.hodinkee.com 'As it happens, Patek Philippe could not find a 'replacement' reference 1461 - vintage Pateks in steel are very desirable and just as difficult to find. So they found the next best thing: a reference 1584J in yellow gold from the mid-1950s, with a handwound 720410 calibre inside. They managed to track it down through their dealer network and had it completely refurbished at the factory. Woehrle flew to New York for the presentation of his new watch at Patek’s New York offices' [in 2011].

See also the entries relating to Timepieces connected with Lt Imeson and the Great Escape further below.

These images of a 'Smiths' Braille Pocket Watch are kindly contributed by Mr Robert Loram of Devon, England. His fascinating story follows;
...'the following details may be useful for your website.
My Pateral Grandfather Samuel Charles LORAM, a Brixham man born 2/10/1896, enlisted in the Royal Engineers during the First World War. He was Sapper 150102 and was at Ypres in June 1917. I know very little at present regarding his service during the Great War, but this is subject to further research and more information may follow.
I do know that he came home to Brixham totally blind and it is thought this was as a result of a gas attack. He therefore spent most of his adult life in darkness, dying in 1977. Following the death of my own father nearly three years ago I came into possession of Grandfather Sam's braille pocket watch which still keeps good time to this day. I believe this would have been issued to him at St Dunstans where he would have been rehabilitated after the war. I understand he was taught to be a boot repairer and I recall him making endless string bags on a circular knitting machine and also small wooden boxes for jewellery and the like. I also have his bible which has the words 'Armentieres 27.6.17, Sapper SC Loram RE ,150102, YWJ (?) BEF France.' Armentieres was slightly behind the front line of the Ypres salient where the majority of British troops fought and died. He spoke often of the Toc H Society and was a life long supporter of the British Legion.
My grandfather married in 1918 and went on to have seven children, five boys and two girls. Four of my paternal uncles served with distinction in The Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Force and the Parachute Regiment between 1933 and 1963.
Regards
Robert Loram'.

'450 MILES TO FREEDOM'. The 'Other' Great Escape!The Heroic story of Frederick Robbins Ellis as told by his Grandson.

PrimeTime of Exeter has been kindly contacted by Mr Paul Stephens of Truro, Devon, England, who wrote to us with the fascinating and heroic story of his Grandfather Captain Frederick Robbins Ellis. Mr Stephens' intriguing story follows;

'...I have seen with interest your time for remembrance war archive...

My Grandfather - Frederick Robbins Ellis - was serving in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry following the outbreak of the First World War and had been sent with his battalion to India. He had only been there for 3 weeks when he was seconded to the Dorsetshire Regiment and sent to Mesopotamia. There he got as far as Kut-al Amara which was then besieged by the Turks. Eventually, the Empire forces had to surrender. My Grandfather was one of the Officers who was then taken to a POW camp in Anatolia. However, he and 7 others planned an escape and succeeded in walking for 350 miles across Turkey and the Taurus Mountains until they reached the Mediterranean coast. They then stole a small Turkish boat and succeeded in sailing it another 100 miles to the northern coast of Cyprus. From there he was able to get home'.

Mr Stephens' Grandfather can be seen in the image above, standing second from left. An exciting, graphic account of this heroic escape can be found in 'Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom' by Captain Johnston RGA & Captain Yearsley RE, William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London 1919.

Mr Stephens has inherited 3 pocket watches from his Grandfather. They are understood to be of English manufacture, and made for the Turkish market. He believes his Grandfather bartered for the watches, and returned with them following his escape. Mr Stephens is commissioning PrimeTime of Exeter to restore them to full working order.

Images of the watches mentioned will be placed in this archive as soon as available.

This is the route taken by the men featured in the story above (centre of the map, North to South) '..across Turkey and the Taurus Mountains until they reached the Mediterranean coast. They then stole a small Turkish boat and succeeded in sailing it another 100 miles to the northern coast of Cyprus...' The image above right features the book cover of Johnston & Yearsley's heroic tale.

"...a nurse who tried to do her duty"

Left; the great Edith Cavell, with her team of Nurses in Belgium during WW1.Edith Louisa Cavell was born in Swardeston, Norfolk (England) in 1865. She is celebrated internationally for helping to escape, and saving the lives of soldiers in Brussels (from all sides irrespective of nationality and without distinction.)

She and others helped over 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium to Holland.

Edith was arrested and tried by a German military court. She was found guilty of ‘assisting men to the enemy of the German people’ and in the face of pleas for clemency was shot by German firing squad at 2 am, on October 12 1915 horrifying the entire world. Her body was reburied at Norwich Cathedral in 1919.

Nurses' fob watches were the more sanitary alternative to wrist watches. It is believed the word Fob is a derivation of the German word 'Fuppe' meaning pocket.

Above; A plaque dedicated to the memory of Edith Cavell, erected by teachers, pupils and friends of her old school at Laurel Court, Peterborough, England.

This captivating image of a Russian Red Cross nurse during WW1, shows her preference for the wrist watch rather than the fob.

Many major Russian and Western Newspapers printed many stories about women in the military. For example, the Journal 'Voina' (The War) dedicated a whole issue to "Womens Heroes" in 1915. The New York Times and the London Times also featured accounts on women in Russia in the military. Nursing was quite popular before the Great War but in 1914, its popularity soared.

The nurses in Russia were referred to as Sisters of Mercy, and so called peasants were not the only women involved with it. Almost eighteen thousand women served as nurses during this period from all aspects of society. The Empress Alexandra, her daughters, nieces and cousins all became nurses looking to help the War effort, with well documented ultimate tragic consquences.

Note the Iron Cross insignia under the numeral 12 is that used prior to the basic'Balkenkreuz' (beam or bar cross)national insignia, adopted by German aviation units in April 1918.

This image of British nurses attending to some of our wounded heroes of WW1, has been kindly sent to the archive by Adam Harris (see entries above).

Note the Wrist Watch being worn.

Gallet, is known to be the world’s oldest watch and clock making house being traced back to Humbertus Gallet, a clock maker who became a citizen of Geneva in 1466.

A Gallet timepiece of particular renown was the 'Flight Officer' time zone chronograph. Commissioned by Senator Harry S. Truman in 1939 for pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, the Flight Officer (a.k.a. Flying Officer) had a rotating 12-hour bezel and the names of 23 major world cities printed on the periphery of the dial (face).

These features made it possible to calculate changes in the time as an aviator flew across lines of longitude.

In addition to being the first time zone calculating wristwatch, the Flight Officer was one of the world’s first wrist chronographs to be housed in a water resistant case. Truman wore a Gallet Flight Officer during his terms as 33rd president (1945–1953.)

﻿ 'The Madonnas of Pervyse'

Mairi Lambert Gooden-Chisholm of Chisholm 'Mairi Chisholm' (on the right) & Elizabeth 'Elsie' Knocker (The Baroness de T'Serclaes born Elizabeth Blackall Shapter). Known as 'The Madonnas of Pervyse', the heroic nurses who rode a motorbike and sidecar into the battlefields of Belgium during WW1 to ferry the wounded and fallen. Mairi was born in Nairn, Scotland and Elsie was born in Exeter, Devon, England, and was also mentioned in despatches in WW2.

Note the preference for a wrist watch in this situation - as opposed to a fob - as it was presumably easier to read whilst riding the motor bike!

Mairi & Elsie were the celebrities of their day and were believed to be the most photographed women of the time. Often featured in the Press and Magazines in connection with their daring 'exploits'.

Mairi and Elsie pictured in the motor bike with side car used on the Belgium front.

Outstanding image of Elsie and Mairi with their pet terrier 'Shot' who was sadly killed during a gas attack in 1918.

However, brave little Shot, managed to alert Elsie and Mairi, to that gas attack who were then able to put their gas masks on, saving their lives, before he passed away.

At three o’clock in the afternoon of 22nd of November 2014, a life-size bronze sculpture of Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, and their little dog Shot, was unveiled in the garden of the Hotel Ariane in Ypres, a hundred years to the day since they started giving ‘golden hour ‘ treatment to Belgian soldiers in their dug-out in Pervyse ten miles away.
The sculptor, Josiane Vanhoutte, of Ostend has made many fine pieces of public art. Several of her works can be seen in her home city. Please visit http://www.dianeatkinson.co.uk/statue. which is the web site of Diane Atkinson who has campaigned tirelessly to obtain recognition of these 2 admirable ladies.

​Creating Bonds

The U.K. Treasury has said (October 2014) it plans to repay the £218 million note ($348.8 million) which was issued by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill in 1927. But it has also revived talk that the government could repay a further £2 billion of outstanding war debt, mostly in the form of the £1.9 billion “War Loan” dating from 1932.

The Treasury is “looking into the practicalities and value” of repaying this debt in full, it said in a statement.

At the time, everyone was encouraged to buy into war bonds.

The 1927 cash was raised by Churchill, the future prime minister, to refinance loans including some of the debt that was sold to fund the country’s involvement in the Great War.

“Put it into National War Bonds” read the slogan on one advertisement alongside an image of a rifle-toting soldier (left).

Above, we see nurses of the time signing up for their share of the Bonds. Note the wrist watch on the left wrist.

WW1 Nurse

in a wonderfully posed picture, opting for a wrist watch in preference to the fob.

Grateful thanks to Adam Harris.

Mary Faragher of Douglas Isle of Man (on the right of the left image above) worked as a crane driver at Vickers Naval Armaments factory in Barrow-in-Furness. Should you know any more about these women, please get in touch. In the right hand image women employed to salvage and clean bricks during WW2.

During WWI some women from the Isle of Man travelled to the UK to take on jobs previously only available to men. According to research undertaken by The Manx Museum, Mary Faragher from Douglas (pictured on the right of the photograph) worked as a crane driver at Vickers Naval Armaments factory. The factory was based in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England (now County of Cumbria) and their records show another Manx woman worked at Coventry Ordnance factory, filling shells with TNT. The Manx women along with their counterparts all over the country, cleaned locomotives, worked in shell factories and many other heavy and dangerous jobs, which had previously only been open to men. This trend continued into WW2 - see the image above right. Note the military wristlet style watch being posed by Mary's colleague. There was an effort during WW1 to improve the robustness of watches, and it is possible the case of this watch is a type known as a 'Borgel' design (see below.) In the late 1910s and early 1920s, a Swiss casemaker, Francis Baumgartner, made cases based on the patent by Borgel. These cases were designed specifically to be more resiliant in order to provide additional protection to the watch movement.

Should you have any further information relating to either of the brave women portrayed above, please contact us.

A souvenir watch of the Great War, manufactured at the time with an optimistic appraisal of its timeline - 1914 - 1915! Provided by kind courtesy of a valued customer of PrimeTime of Exeter. The Watch depicts on the right, the image of Lord Horatio Kitchener - 24 June 1850 - 5 June 1916. Kitchener was a British military leader and statesman who, as secretary of state for war in the first years of WW1, organised armies on an unprecedented scale. He was also depicted on the most famous British army recruitment poster ever produced (above). He was drowned on 5 June when his ship, HMS Hampshire was sunk by a German mine off the Orkney Isles. The left image shows Joseph Jacques Césaire (Papa) Joffre, 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) who was a French general during WWI.

These images are by kind courtesy of Yvon Davis of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia @YvonDavis. They portray on the right - of the left image above - a 'New Haven Clock Company' pedometer Circa WW1, and pocket watch with subsidiary dial. They belonged to members of the Returned Services League RSL, 'tunnellers' from the Ballarat region of Victoria. For a fascinating insight into these brave tunnellers visit https://www.facebook.com/MiningMudMedals and http://www.abc.net.au Should you have any other information regarding these brave tunnellers, please get in touch. The image above on the right portrays Queen Victoria in front of Ballarat Town Hall's impressive clock.

Continued from above; During WW1, members of the Australian Mining Corps were commonly known as ‘tunnellers’. They worked continuously in wet and muddy conditions, under constant enemy threat. Pneumonia and bronchial illnesses, as well as wear and tear injuries from hard, physical work in close conditions also took their toll. They fought on many battle fronts – from Gallipoli, to France and Belgium – even Mexico.
Mining engineers, miners, electricians, carpenters and soldier miners, tried to drive their, often narrow tunnels, under no man’s land. A silent and savage war; silent because of the vital need to ensure the enemy couldn’t hear where ANZACs were tunnelling. Savage, because discovery close to enemy lines often meant death by mustard gas, close combat fighting or simply being blown up by enemy mines. The hostilities weren’t just above ground; fighting also took place in closed and cramped spaces underground where the hunters were also being hunted. Excerpt by kind courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/MiningMudMedals

Making a Home from Home. Many WarTime residents decided to 'bling up' their little shelters under the Railway. Bringing in beds pictures and even Clocks.

​

Tunnel Vision

​Ramsgate Borough Council Digs Deep to Protect its Citizens

As the second World War approached, Ramsgate Borough Council in Kent, England, embarked on ambitious but controversial plans to create a network of Deep Shelter tunnels linking to a former Railway Tunnel which would provide shelter for 60,000 people during the onset of air raids during WW2.

​Despite initial resistance from the government, the plan was finally given the go ahead and the network was formally opened by The Duke of Kent on 1st June 1939.

Many 'residents' decided to stay in the tunnels longer than anticipated, decorating their little piece of home from home, and it is recorded that even babies were born in them.

​For more information visit; http://ramsgatetunnels.org/

​

Above Left; Clock Tower War Memorial, Exmouth, Devon England. Image Copyright Nigel Chadwick and licensed for reuse under the appropriate Creative Commons Licence. Above Right; Mallock Clock Tower, Torquay, Devon England on Empire Day, 1905. The clock tower, known as the Mallock Memorial, was built in 1902 and is named after Richard Mallock (local MP) who died in 1900. The bell within the tower had been silent since 1939, however; it has now been refurbished, and is ringing again. The clock face stones have been restored and the clock has been painted and gilded using 24 carat gold. New glass was installed and new teardrop lights put in place. Information courtesy of http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon & image courtesy of Torquay Museum.

The Cairns Sailors and Soldiers Memorial in North Queensland, Australia. it stands 12.5 metres high, and the statue depicting a soldier is life-size. The soldier stands 'at ease' surmounting a clock tower, the dials of which are now painted on and the movements are regrettably no longer functional. According to the Queensland War Memorial Register, the time on the clock reads 4.28am, the time of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli. This imposing memorial commemorates those who gave their lives during World War I.

Reading University commemorates its war dead of WW1.This image of the magnificent clock tower at Reading University, commemorates those members of the University that gave their lives during WW1. The contribution is by very kind courtesy of Caroline Benson, - Photographic Assistant at the Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading;'...Regarding the university memorial clock tower I can offer the following information taken from, One Hundred Years of University Education in Reading; A Pictorial History 1892-1992. “ The War Memorial Tower designed by Herbert Maryon of the Fine Art Department, it is sixty feet high & fourteen feet square at the base. It was dedicated to W.M.Childs on June 7th 1924 & rededicated by the Bishop of Reading on May 23rd 1953. The names of members of the College & University who died are recorded on bronze tablets.”

By very kind courtesy of Caroline Benson, of The Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading.and The Reading Connections project – 'Reading at War'.

The Thorverton War Memorial, Devon, England

commemorates and honours its war dead of both 1914 - 1918 and 1939 - 1945

The Thorverton memorial plaque on the left reads;

'To The Glory of God This memorial was erected in memory of those from this parish who laid down their lives during the Great War 1914 -1918'

Gwalchmai Village clock, Anglesey, Wales. A Memorial to its War Dead.

This clock is one of the most striking features for those passing through Gwalchmai along the old A5 Road to Holyhead in Wales. The clock, which is also the Gwalchmai war memorial was built by a local stonemason in 1926.

The clock has four dials & chimes the hour and is apparently still wound by hand each day.

This is a typical example of a WW1 Bulkhead 'U' (Untersee) Boat Clock. Many of this type were manufactured by Franz Happe at the naval port of Kiel, Germany. The bezel would have been lockable and watertight. Its issue number can be seen on the right of the dial. The image above right is believed to depict UB-122 – one of more than 100 U-boats surrendered to the British at the end of the war. The U Boat is now visible at low tide in the remote area of mudflats by the river Medway in Hoo, Kent, England.

A Bulkhead Clock which originally belonged to U-boat 122 - one of the most advanced vessels in the German fleet during WW1- is now in the possession of a pensioner living in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The 94-year-old inherited the timepiece from her uncle, who is understood to have removed it when the submarine was surrendered at the end of WW1.

This story coincides with new photographs which have just emerged of UB-122 - the only German submarine visible in UK waters - beached in a remote area of mudflats by the river Medway in Kent (see image above right).

The century-old brass timepiece - manufactured by Franz Happe from the German city of Kiel - has been mounted on wood and an accompanying plaque reads "U.122".Apparently, it is still in working order but like any antique or vintage timepiece it is recommended to have the item serviced regularly. With kind thanks to http://www.express.co.uk and special thanks to @geoffurs

Please contact PrimeTime of Exeter if you would like any further information regarding servicing or restoration.

The outstanding floral clock tribute to the famous 603 Squadron from Edinburgh, Scotland. Formed as a light bomber unit of the Auxiliary Air Force in October 1925, it was at the height of the Battle of Britain that the CO of RAF Hornchurch, Group Captain 'Boy' Bouchier described 603 as 'perhaps the greatest squadron of them all'. For a comprehensive history of the Squadron see; 'The Greatest Squadron of Them All': Formation to 1941 Vol 1: The Definitive History of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron. Photograph provided by kind courtesy of John Duncan @Newbattleatwar

This image is from a postcard collection belonging to Mr Alan Burnett at http://newsfromnowhere1948.blogspot.co.uk

Mr Burnett believes the card was bought during WW1. Amiens featured prominently in the campaigns and hosted hundreds of thousands of Allied troops. The Battle of Amiens (also known as the Third Battle of Picardy which began on 8 August 1918, was the opening phase of the allied offensive later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that ultimately led to the end of WW1.

The magnificent clock was constructed in the 1880s, the gift of the Mayor of Amiens, Louis Dewally. It was erected close to the railway station so that the citizens would never again be late for their trains. At the base of the iron column, the sculptor Albert Roze fashioned a magnificent reclining nude in bronze. It is said that the statue shocked some local citizens. It soon became a famous feature of the city and was christened "Marie Sans Chemise".

During the Second World War the statue and clock were taken down in order to protect them from damage, but in the chaos that followed the end of the war, they mysteriously vanished and were never seen again.

To mark the Millennium, the City Council commissioned a copy of both the clock and statue and they can now be found near the Cathedral.

Golders Green, London, War Memorial

This imposing memorial was unveiled in April 1923.

The Portland Stone structure is thought to be designed by Frank T Dear who was responsible for the similar memorial in Stockwell.

Village Clock first installed in 1920 to commemorate 13 villagers who gave their lives during WW1 has been repaired to commemorate the Centenary.

The Westgate Village Hall War Memorial Clock, in Weardale, County Durham, has been repaired in time to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War after a fundraising effort by residents.

The clock was originally built by Leeds-based firm 'Potts and Son' and, apart from when heavy snow or ice have caused it to stop, has consistently told the time perfectly ever since it was installed.

Engineers from clockmaker Smiths of Derby (seen on the left) completed the restoration and, thanks to the extra funds raised, were able to use original-style cast dials rather than the planned acrylic ones. timeforremembrance.com has contacted the Hall committee for further information regarding the history of the clock.Story courtesy of www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

Time Signals

Built between 1403 and 1412, the St Albans Clock Tower, Hertfordshire, England, is the only medieval example in the country. From the outset it had a mechanical clock, which was rare at that time. It is probable that St Albans Abbey also had one. The Clock Tower itself seems to have been intended, and used, as a visible statement of St. Albans' civic ambitions against the attempted absolute power of the Abbot. It was both a look out tower, as well as a curfew, ringing out the times when people had to be indoors "covering the fire".

From 1808-1814 during the Napoleonic war, it was used by the Admiralty as a semaphore station. This was operated by a shutter system (picture left) and could help relay messages to or from Yarmouth in 5 minutes. By the 1860's the Tower was in a bad way and was nearly demolished. The restoration in 1864 was supervised by Sir Gilbert Scott. In 2004, the roof was rebuilt with improved public safety and access.

Following the 1918 armistice, the Cwmbran branch of the British Women’s Temperance Association started a collection fund with the aim of providing a building in memory of local men who had fallen in the Great War. However, by 1935 it had become clear that their lofty target was not achieveable. So in that same year, the BWTA handed over the full amount of money that had been collected to the local Council. That money was used to purchase a war memorial in the form of a public clock. The clock tower was erected in February 1936 on an island in the middle of the road by Cwmbran Urban District Council as a joint gift from rate-payers and the BWTA. The official unveiling of the Memorial Clock Tower was conducted by Mrs. Annie Kelly, the oldest member of the Temperance branch, on 18th June 1936. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of people and dignitaries from the town. The memorial dedication was performed by Reverend John Donne, the Vicar of Llantarnam. The Clock Tower captured the imagination of the public back then as it was powered by electricity; a power source that had only been introduced to Cwmbran just five years earlier. The Memorial Clock Tower was re-dedicated on 7th September 2007 after it had been taken down for renovation work in the summer of that year. The £17,000 restoration project was funded by the Cwmbran Regeneration Partnership and specialist clock makers and restorers, Messrs Gillett & Johnson undertook the refurbishment work. Please see our other entry relating to Gillett & Johnson on this page. Conducting the re-dedication service that evening was Reverend Fr. Michael J. Phillips and in attendance with him were; The Major of Torfaen, Councillor Bill King and his consort Janet King, Tom Matthews, Chairman of Cwmbran Community Council and Nigel Davies, Chairman of Croesyceiliog and Llanyrafon Community Council, church representatives and the Cwmbran Salvation Army Band. Of the local residents who came to witness the re-dedication of this war memorial, notably several people had been present at the original unveiling, 71 years ago. Every year on Remembrance Sunday, the procession from Clomenday Road to the War Memorial at Cocker Avenue Park arrives at the Memorial Clock Tower on Victoria Street for people to pay their respects at 10:30 am. Regrettably, this memorial remains dedicated solely to the Cwmbran men who lost their lives in WW1, it does not officially commemorate losses from any other conflict.

Left; the plaque is dedicated to the memory of those men of Cwmbran who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War.

Before and after.
The ruins of St Martin's Church and the Clock Tower at Ypres,
Belgium during World War 1.

The wonderful, picturesque town of Bridport, Dorset, England, honours its war dead of both world wars with this imposing memorial.

Above: The fallen of WW2 are remembered. Bridport also commemorates Mark Andrew Sambles, one of our Falkland's heroes from the conflict of 1982.

This clock on the seafront at Lyme Regis, Dorset, commemorates those who gave their lives in WW2.

The plaque reads: This Clock, was erected by public subscription to the memory of those associated with this town (Lyme Regis) who laid down their lives in the 1939-1945 War.

Silverton Church Clock Tower & War Memorial, in Devon, England,

The War Memorial is dedicated to the fallen of both WW1 and WW2 from the town.

There is a special memorial to the Royal British Legion in a dedicated part of the Churchyard - please see below.

Images of the Individual plaques commemorating the soldiers who gave their lives can be seen below.

We Are Legion

Plaque in the Garden of Remembrance in Silverton Church Yard, honouring members of the British Legion. Laid in 1957.

The Royal British Legion is the UK's leading Armed Forces charity. They provide practical, emotional and financial support to all members of the British Armed Forces past and present, and their families.The British Legion was founded in 1921 as a voice for the ex-Service community as a merger of four organisations: the Comrades of the Great War, the National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers, the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers and the Officers' Association.

It was granted a Royal Charter on 29 May 1971 to mark its fiftieth anniversary which gives the Legion the privilege of the prefix 'Royal'. The Legion actively campaign to improve the lives of the Forces and their families, and are involved in countless fund-raising activities world-wide, not least the Poppy Appeal.

We recently met up with just one of their motivated fund raisers, Steve Keane, who can be seen in our Taking Time To Remember page.

The Poppy was adopted in 1921 by The Royal British Legion as the symbol of Remembrance. People had begun to adopt the Poppy after being inspired by the poem of a Canadian Doctor, John McCrae who had been present in France during WW1.

An Edwardian, German Mantel Clock. With a 'Broken Arch Top' Case & Silvered Dial. Note the image of the plaque on the right. It depicts the clock was awarded to a Sergeant T (or J) Fuggle for achieving 2nd best shot in battalion. The battalion believed to be the 12th K V R Kings or Kent Voluntary Regiment. The clock has been kindly donated to the archive by Mary Jaques, whose mother purchased the clock in auction in Kent, England in the 1960s. If you can provide any further information regarding Sgt Fuggle please get in contact with us.

These excellent images of an 8 day Chronometer Trench Watch, have been graciously provided by an anonymous contributor. Their interesting information is as follows; .....'Dear Cathy McAnespie, I was pleased to read of your interest in first world war timekeeping in the 'Western Morning News' newspaper, on 19th December.I bought this timepiece at a local auction, in Totnes maybe fifty years ago, for five shillings. Sadly there was no provenance but it was said to have been used by a company captain in the trenches. The movement is an eight day one of some quality. (number 76183)... Chronometer standard but the balance spring is not helical. It still works but there is no maker’s name. The case is nickel plated brass and very sturdy. I wonder if it was originally made for a motor car dashboard.There is a holder for a battery beneath and a primitive switch would have allowed the dial to be viewed in the dark (bottom right image).
The stand is made of a very soft mahogany.
I offered the piece to the Imperial War Museum but it was not accepted as there is no provenance.
Yours sincerely

Honiton Church, Honiton Devon,England.

with its War Memorial on the High Street, dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives from both World Wars.

The images below depict the names of those brave soldiers in full clarity.

Remembering the Heroes of Honiton, Devon Always.

Training Horology Students Through War Time﻿

As an ex-horology instructor at St Loye's College in Devon, England, I am always keen to hear about any stories that relate to passing on the skills and gifts of this noble profession. I recently discovered this wonderful article by Ashlee Brown, a history graduate, which documents the story of a horological school housed in Bradley University, Illinois, in the United States of America, and the role it played during and subsequent to WW1. Cathy McAnespie.

'The clock tower in Bradley University’s historic Westlake Hall recently received a facelift as part of a major renovation and expansion of the university’s second oldest building, expected to be complete this summer. This new clock face, which bears Roman numerals similar to the original design, is a fitting symbol for the beginnings of the institution…The idea for a watchmaking school was first conceived by J.R. Parsons of Indiana, who felt that what he had spent most of his life learning to do could be taught in substantially less time at a proper school. An increased demand for skilled workers in his trade also fueled the idea. After reading a letter in a journal from a young man asking if there was a school where one could learn the watch trade, Parsons decided to establish such a school. As a result, in 1886, the Parsons Horological Institute—the first watchmaking school in the country—opened in La Porte, Indiana.

The school was a major success, but after six years, it was beginning to outgrow its accommodations. By this time, philanthropist Lydia Moss Bradley of Peoria, Illinois, had become interested in the school and the idea of assisting young men and women who desired to learn the trade. Bradley offered a larger building with all the necessary equipment, and in 1892, she bought and moved the Indiana-based school—with its 100 students, full staff of teachers and all—to Peoria. This was just one of the many projects into which she poured her energies.

War TimeThe institution played an active role in technical training on behalf of the government during the First World War. On April 10, 1918, the Committee on Education and Special Training, representing the War Department, established Camp Bradley at Bradley Polytechnic Institute for the technical training of soldiers. The Army School of Mechanics was given near-exclusive use of Horology Hall to instruct soldiers in lens grinding, gunsmithing and the repair of fine instruments chiefly for use by the Air Force—mechanisms that recorded the height, speed, declination and inclination of airplanes.Attendance skyrocketed after the two world wars and the Korean War, as the School of Horology trained eager ex-servicemen in the trade, courtesy of the G.I. Bill. In fact, according to The Scout, the school “gained a national reputation for training the handicapped” in particular, with “veterans…flock[ing] to take advantage of the free instruction.”“After World War II, the facilities and staff were expanded to accommodate more than 400 students who enrolled,” The Scout continues. “And during that 10-year post-war period, the school had to turn away 17,000 students!”

A Clock for the AgesBuilt in 1898, Parsons’ original crafted clock was first housed in the tower of Horology Hall. But Grant Hood, a faculty member during the early 1900s, had a difficult time with the clock, which had not been properly constructed. Therefore, around 1904, plans for a new clock were adopted. Shop students made the weights, framework and heavy casings, and horology students completed the delicate work. The clock was wound manually, twice a week, for 40 years. In the 1950s, an electric winding mechanism was added to the clock so it could run for several months at a time without attention. In the ‘60s, it received another new face and was converted to run fully on electricity.In 1946, Horology Hall was renamed Westlake Hall after Allen T. Westlake, the founding dean of the Horology Department, who served from its beginning until his death in 1931. Westlake was a beloved instructor, called “Papa Horology” by his students. He was one of the pioneer instructors in horology and attended the first conference that sparked the creation of the Horological Institute of America in Washington, D.C.

Westlake Hall, Bradley University, Illinois.Despite its earlier glory days, attendance dwindled, and in 1961, the horology school closed its doors. The program would be transplanted once more, as Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illinois, purchased the remainder of its assets. In the end, more than 11,000 craftsmen had graduated from Bradley’s School of Horology.So, the next time you look up at Bradley’s splendid new clock that towers over the campus, think of Lydia Moss Bradley and her quest for providing valuable educational opportunities for young men and women. Or, simply marvel at the craftsmanship itself—the clock’s four five-and-a-half foot glass panels weigh about 300 pounds each, according to The Scout—and with the help of a few hand exchanges and new faces, it still ticks, 114 years and counting'.

A secret inscription inside Abraham Lincoln's gold pocket watch, reportedly marking the beginning of the American Civil War, was revealed at the National Museum of American History in March 2009, in the Smithsonian Institute.

The museum agreed to open the watch after the watchmaker’s great-great-grandson, Doug Stiles, contacted the museum curator Harry Rubenstein to inform him of the allegedly engraved message. The watch was carefully disassembled by George Thomas, a museum volunteer and master watchmaker. The engraving by watchmaker Jonathan Dillon is dated April 13th, 1861, and reads: ‘Jonathan Dillon April 13, 1861 Fort Sumpter was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon April 13, 1861 Washington’ and ‘thank God we have a government Jonth Dillon.’

Lincoln allegedly never knew about the inscription and Jonathan Dillon only mentioned it 45 years later, aged 84, in an interview with The New York Times published on April 30th, 1906. The watchmaker told the newspaper that he had been repairing the watch when he found out about the breakout of the war, when Confederate forces attacked the military base at Fort Sumter on April 12th, 1861. He described how he had unscrewed the dial of the watch and used a sharp instrument to engrave his name and the historic date on the president’s watch as well as the message: ‘The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try’ (this differs from the actual inscription). He also claimed that to his knowledge ‘no one but himself ever saw the inscription.’ Brent Glass, director of the National Museum of American History, described the significance of the discovery: ‘Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket. It's a personal side of history about an ordinary watchman being inspired to record something for posterity.’ Mr Stiles reacted to the discovery with the levelling comment of: ‘My ancestor put graffiti on Lincoln’s watch!’

​Left; Gold 'Full-Hunter' Pocket Watch complete with Albert Chain, belonging to Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America during the American Civil War 1861 - 1865.

Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3 1808 – December 6 1889) is sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861, on the steps of the Montgomery, Alabama State Capitol. The magnificent clock overseeing the momentous and omenous occasion. According to Davis;'...the audience was large, and brilliant...upon my weary heart was showered smiles plaudits and flowers...but beyond them I saw trouble and thorns innumerable...'

The clock over the portico was installed in February 1852. The clock, along with a bell, was purchased by the City of Montgomery and presented to the state in 1852. In proportion to the capitol building, the clock appears as a square white box with black dials and surmounted with a gabled roof. The dials are 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter with 4 feet (1.2 m) minute hands and 3 feet (0.91 m) hour hands. It has been criticized as architecturally inappropriate on various occasions since its initial installation.

The President Jefferson Davis Watch 'Jefferson Davis watch is a truly fascinating story about an Irish family who immigrated to Canada and took on the responsibility of preserving this special artifact and highly personal time piece belonging to the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. Of course the watch doesn't hold such a significant place in American history because of what it is; but because, of who it belonged to. President Davis, at the time of his inauguration (Feb. 1861) was the figurehead and symbol of the new republic, formed by the southern most slave states, of what was formally "The United States of America". A new Republic (the Confederacy) that would be sustained by the bloodiest four years of warfare the world had ever seen. At the conclusion of the American Civil War; April 1865, Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis with his wife, family and the remnants of his cabinet officials proceeded southward in an attempt to elude pursuing northern military units that had been discharged with effecting his capture. On May 10, 1865, President Davis and his entourage are apprehended in a small Georgia town called Irwinville. The President was subsequently incarcerated in the federal facility of Fortress Monroe, Va. for the following two years. The U.S. Gov't had every intention to charge, and then try the ex- president for treason, which carries the penalty of death by hanging. During this two year period he was exposed to being chained and long periods of solitary confinement all the while his general health was deteriorating rapidly.

On the left; Front view of the Pocket Watch, with its original key.

After this two year period of time, and a growing support of the southern people, coupled with a $100,000 bond supplied by; of all sources, a group of northern abolitionists headed by newspaper publisher Horace Greeley a devout anti slavery advocate, it was decided best to release the ex-president. On May 13, 1867, Jefferson Davis is brought before the federal court in Richmond, Va., where the court accepts the bond and sets Davis free on his own recognizance to return at a future date for final disposition. Upon his release Ex-president Davis proceeds to Canada where his wife and family are waiting anxiously. It is here in the small township of Lennoxville, Quebec that the most interesting part of this story begins. In 1866 the small family of Robert and Catherine Balfour with their one year old son, William, and accompanied by Robert's younger brother, Alexander, arrive in Quebec, from Ireland, where all had lived most of their lives. Robert and Alexander are both accomplished boot makers and decide to set-up a small repair and custom boot shop in the nearby township of Lennoxville. They manage to procure a shop (that the 1871 census locates) on the main street of town. It is approximately one year later that Ex-president Davis would arrive at Lennoxville. He arrives in quest of a quiet out of the way town where he might have a chance to put his life back together.

On the left; the Watch in its Hand Carved Olive Wood Case (created from 1 piece of wood)

Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina put their children in school and attempt to put the past six years behind them. However, this was not as easily done, as said. The U.S. Government had confiscated their land, money and any belongings of value that could be found. It is assumed Jefferson Davis left prison with the clothes on his back and whatever personal effects he had in his possession at the time of his incarceration. According to personal correspondences between Davis and various friends, he was destitute and his most immediate need was to find employment and some way to provide for his family. So it was that one day shortly after his arrival he would find himself in the boot shop of Robert Balfour and through the only means left to him offered to barter his pocket watch for the one article he needed even more, a pair of custom made boots.

The image here shows the spectacular detail of the Olive Wood case

This offer being accepted by Robert Balfour begins the most interesting journey of this famous watch. The decision to barter his pocket watch could not have been easy. In the 19th century a pocket watch was a very personal item, especially for a man of position and means of which he was accustomed to both. For President Davis his watch would speak well for the man who held it. This watch is of high quality, unique design, in its silver finish and delicate detail of enamel inlay, all the way to its smaller than normal dimension, a design that would fit the president's hand more comfortably.Ex-president Davis would stay in Lennoxville until 1868 when he accepted employment from an English company and left for the U.K.

It is fortunate for the artifact, and for us who enjoy it, that the Balfour family was the one who came into possession of this fine piece. The Balfour family knew the significance of this watch from a historical point of view. It is also significant to point out that the family never tried to gain from it's value, but simply kept it in their possession and simply cherished it. They passed it down the line until the line ran out and there was no one left to leave it to. All the while the family made continued references to the watch by letters and family history documents. (Left Above; The Dial of the Watch. Kindly set to 11 o' clock by Mr & Mrs Berryto Honour and Remember all those who gave their lives during all Conflicts. (please see our Taking Time to Remember page).

A superb image of the inside of the Watch.

The following is the chronology and line of possession the watch went through:

It is now our time to watch over this piece of history, to safe guard it and cherish it in the same exemplary manner that those who have watched over it before us, have so nobly done'. Below; The Jefferson Davis Watch Proudly Displayed at the Confederate Whitehouse Very warm thanks to George & Lilliana Berry & Anne Tidmore;http://firstconfederatewhitehousereport.blogspot.co.uk

From Left to Right; CAMERON FREEMAN NAPIER, HONORARY REGENT FOR LIFE OF THE FIRST WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY;
LILLIANA BERRY, WATCH OWNER; ANN TIDMORE, CURRENT REGENT- IN FRONT OF JEFFERSON DAVIS PORTRAITS AT THE FIRST
WHITE HOUSE OF THE CONFEDERACY, MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.

Wonderful image of The Courthouse surmounted with its fine turret clock,
in Petersburg, Virginia - Seceded Confederate State - during the American Civil War, 1865.
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles fought around Petersburg, Virginia, from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865.

'...a token of regard & respect'.

This is a pocket watch presented to Dr. G D O’Farrell, a surgeon during the American Civil War. It was presented to him by grateful patients.

Gerald Dunne O’Farrell was born in Ireland in 1836 and had medical training at the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1862. From March of 1863 through the end of July 1865, he served as assistant surgeon with the 63rd and 215th Pennsylvania Regiments.

He settled after the war in the Kensington neighbourhood of Philadelphia, married Eliza M. Broffy—also from Ireland—in 1866, and together they had a son G. D. O’Farrell Jr., another Pennsylvania graduate, class of ’94. A physician to the end, the senior O’Farrell died on a house call on March 27, 1902.

The inscription on the left reads;“White Hall USA Gen’l Hospital, Feb. 15, 1865 Presented to Dr. G. D. O’Farrell, USA, by the patients of Ward C as a token of regard & respect for his ability as a surgeon and unswerving integrity as a man.”

The silver watch case shows signs of wear. The watch movement according to Carlene Stephens (curator of the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History) appears to be in good condition and has been well cared for. The movement, marked “Wm. Ellery/Boston, Mass.” indicates the watch is a product of the 'American Watch Company' of Waltham, Massachusetts.

In the 1850s, watchmakers (at what would become the 'American Watch Co.') reputedly developed the world's first machine made watches. The firm’s early years were financially uncertain, success eventually came from an unexpected quarter. During the Civil War, the Waltham factory designed and produced the low-cost 'William Ellery' model (above). Selling for just $13, these watches became a fad with Union soldiers. Roving merchants sold thousands of cheap watches to eager customers in wartime encampments. By 1865 - the year the war ended - William Ellery movements represented about 45% of Waltham’s unit sales. To make something as intricate and complicated as a watch by machine, had seemed impossible in 1850, but a decade later American watchmakers had an industry that produced quality watches in quantity. This was an industry that would come to symbolize the best of American ingenuity and organization on the world stage.Kind courtesy of Carlene Stephens; http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee

It was common practice with horologists throughout this period (the equivalent Victorian period in England) to insert cuttings from newspapers of the day, into the protective outer case of fusee watches (known as 'pair cases'). The image on the right is a typical example of this, and shows paper linings with a cloth pad to insulate the two cases from rubbing against each other.

This form of protection was also an opportunity for watchmakers to advertise their trade by inserting a “watch paper” with their name and date of repair upon it. The 'watch papers' on the right have been home made from the local newspaper, and are a literal “time capsule.” Over time, these papers would accumulate, and the linings would become considerable. Many were also decorative, and eventually became collectable.

The cutting tells of “some 3,000 Rebel Calvary have advanced as far as Sarcoxie, and that their foraging parties are following closely the retreat of Hunter’s division. The Unionists that had compromised themselves by affiliating with the army of Freemont, are now disserting their homesteads, and seeking refuge etc.”

"Seconds are centuries, minutes ages.."
Quote from a survivor of Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, American Civil War, July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Contributed to PrimeTime of Exeter by Very Kind Courtesy of Anne Tidmore of the First Confederate Whitehouse, Montgomery, Alabama, who also provided the following information;

'...The 'Billy' Davis Hayes Yacht Clock was donated to the First White House. William Davis Hayes (later the family adopted the surname Hayes-Davis) was the son of Margaret Davis Hayes, daughter of President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America. Many of the Davis family heirlooms inherited and preserved by William Davis Hayes, are now in the collection of the First White House of the Confederacy, having been acquired after his death at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This wonderful clock [circa 1898-1900] which had been owned by Billy, was given to the First White House by Dr. Craig Werner, whose parents Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Werner willed it to us. The clock is circular and has an 'ogee' case surrounding a white face with Roman Numeral lettering, the hinged glass cover surrounded by a brass bezel.

The face is inscribed: Made by the New Haven Clock Co., New Haven, Conn. U.S.A.

On the back is the lettering: Eight Day 6 Inch Yacht Lever Time Piece New Haven Clock Co. New Haven, Conn. (etc). Also on that label are handwritten inscriptions: "(Symbols apparently ranch brands, which may be in part ciphers of his initials)" plus: "1913 1908 1915 about 1920""Owned by Wm Davis Hayes. Ranch Swallows Colorado"

Mr. Werner says the clock traveled with Mr. Hayes to several ranches in Pueblo, Co. as he put the ranch brands on the back. It also shows a bit of his humor since he wrote on the back the part about "no strike, it fooled me too, I expected Ship Bells" !!!

This little clock is just one of our many, many treasured acquisitions because we have so many interested and generous donors.'

An outstanding example of the work of artist Mort Kunstler. Here depicting;

John Singleton Mosby (December 6 1833 – May 30 1916) nicknamed the "Gray Ghost". He was a Confederate Army Cavalry battalion commander during the American Civil War.

The church with its clock tower is believed to be the Presbyterian Church (Warrenton, Virginia) which, during the Civil War, was occupied by Mosby and his troops. Substantial damage was incurred to the church building - and many others during the course of the war.

This beautiful Mort Kunstler painting is set in Raleigh, North Carolina and portrays the North Carolina Cavalry; and in Mort Kunstler's words; '...With the help of Raymond Beck, the Capitol historian, I learned what shops were located on Fayetteville Street during the war, which added color as well as authenticity to the painting. The owner of the jewelry store, for instance, was a Raleigh silversmith named John C. Palmer [who also peddled clocks] and whose handiwork is now part of the Museum's collection...'

Note the clock sign on the left of the picture. John C Palmer worked from 1855 to 1889 as a silversmith, jeweller, clock-seller and 'daguerreotypist' (photographic process invented by Louis Daguerre circa 1839). Courtesy ofhttp://www.mortkunstler.com

The Moment Time Stopped on the Yorkshire Coast

This alarm clock records the exact time a German sea offensive took place on the Yorkshire coast town of Hartlepool, England, at8.03 on 15-16 December 1914. It is believed the offensive saw the first civilian casualties on British soil ﻿since the Jacobites had been defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. And as far as England was concerned, the time gap was even longer, there had been no military casualties since the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 during the 'Monmouth Rebellion'.﻿

This clock image is taken from the excellent BBC series 'Britain's Great War'.

German battlecruisers appeared off the coast of Hartlepool and Scarborough, and began a heavy bombardment of short duration. Hartlepool put up some resistance, in the shape of three 6in guns ashore and from a small force of four destroyers, two cruisers and a submarine at sea. The German force that attacked Hartlepool and Scarborough then turned north to raid Whitby.Left; Admiral Von Hipper's flagship SMS Seyditz, one of the battlecruisers responsible for the sea offensive. It was completed in 1913, just one year before the raid took place. It was armed with 10 powerful 11 inch calibre guns. Image courtesy of Mr M Pocock of www.Maritimequest.com

The raid was covered in the media, and observed how the German fleet had the advantage of prevailing weather conditions at the time.

by Kind courtesy ofwww.gazettelive.co.uk

This image on the left, is the original archive picture taken of the damaged alarm clock featured above.

It still has the piece of bomb shell embedded in the dial from the raid on Hartlepool, as described above, during December 16, 1914.

This image was found on Pinterest and is courtesy of Lisa Newton also found on tumblr.com

The sea offensive outlined above had a devastating effect on Scarborough. The image above shows the Grand Picture Palace, which was wrecked by a bomb from the sea offensive on16 December 1914. Note the longcase clock being observed by a startled passer-by. It appears the movement of the clock is incredibly still in situ, notwithstanding the damage to its case!

Above; Recruitment posters were printed within 24 hours of the attacks on Scarborough. Poster published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, December 1914.

Air Raid Patrol WW2.

The local Air Raid Patrol Warden sets the clock for 'Blackout Time' during WW2. Of course torches were required during the dark winter months in order to read the time! To the left, public relations information regarding a bombing - euphemistically referred to as an 'incident'.

No comment is required with regard to the Air Raid 'instructions' on the card to the left here.

“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.”
Quote by Golda Meir (1898 – 1978) Prime Minister of Israel, during the1973 Yom-Kippur or Arab–Israeli War.

‘The war imposed homogeneous time… The delicate sensitivity to private time of Bergson and Proust had no place in the war. It was obliterated by the overwhelming force of mass movements that regimented the lives of millions of men by the public time of clocks and wrist watches, synchronized to maximize the effectiveness of bombardments and offensives.’

Excerpt from Stephen Kern's;The culture of time and space, 1880-1918.

Digital Altimeter Watch kindly contributed by 'The Red Devils' Parachute display team. Used when they perform at their various spectacular displays. According to CSgt Team Leader Michael 'Billy' Blanchard of The Red Devils Free Fall Team, the aircraft altimeters are used to keep an eye on their height/altitude but these watches also have an altimeter function which the display team use as a back-up.

This image shows the watch in 'altimeter' mode.

The iconic Red Devils Parachute Display Team in action. The watches depicted in the images above and below can be seen clearly on the wrists of the team.

THE REMARKABLE STORY OF A WW2 HERO AND THE JOURNEY OF HIS ROLEX WATCH.

On 30 May 1949, John Oliver 'Jo' Lancaster DFC made aviation history by becoming the first pilot to eject from an aircraft in an emergency situation using a Martin-Baker ejection seat - since then, Martin-Baker ejection seats have saved over 7,420 aircrew lives worldwide.To mark this momentous occasion Sir James Martin, founder of Martin-Baker Aircraft Co Ltd, presented Jo Lancaster with a gold Rolex watch, engraved with his name and date. This was the start of an intriguing story spanning over six decades and covering thousands of miles. Sadly, the watch was stolen in 1975, unbeknown to Martin-Baker. Discovered in New York last year, the watch was purchased again by the Martin family.

Hero 'Jo' Lancaster receives his much travelled Rolex Watch - again - 64 years after it was presented for the first time!

Continued; Over the years Martin-Baker and Jo Lancaster had lost contact, but following a chance email from a group of air cadets, it was discovered that Jo was alive and well, giving talks to the cadets about his experiences during the war, particularly his ‘ops’ with Bomber Command and his famous ejection in 1949.

As far as the Martins were concerned it was clear that the watch had to be returned to its rightful owner and for the second time, the watch was presented to Jo, this time by Sir James Martin’s twin sons and Joint Managing Directors, John and James - 64 years after it was presented for the first time.

As a former Bomber Command pilot, Jo Lancaster’s wish is for the watch to be used to raise money towards the upkeep of the RAF Benevolent Fund’s Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park, London. So, on Jo's behalf, Martin-Baker has purchased the watch for the third time. "This is such an exceptional story, involving a truly remarkable man", said Andrew Martin, grandson of Sir James Martin. "When Jo asked us to use the watch to raise funds for the memorial upkeep, we instantly decided to 'buy' it for the third time and donate the sum of £5,000 to the RAF Benevolent Fund on his behalf".

Jo Lancaster, who is 94 and lives in Hassocks, said: "I was absolutely gobsmacked when I was presented with the watch for the second time. However having survived without it since it was sadly stolen in 1975, I thought it could be used to help the RAF Benevolent Fund preserve the memory of those in Bomber Command that weren’t as lucky as we were. It's nice to know that the watch is back where the story began and will be remembered for years to come."

Today the watch is displayed proudly in the Martin-Baker museum, together with the original letter from Sir James Martin to Jo Lancaster.

On receiving the cheque from Andrew Martin, Paul Hewson, Regional Director at the RAF Benevolent Fund said: "Since taking over the guardianship of the Memorial last year the RAF Benevolent Fund has heard some incredible stories about the heroic veterans of Bomber Command and is extremely grateful for the generous donations it has received towards the upkeep of the Memorial. It is absolutely delighted that Jo has decided to donate the elusive Rolex towards that cause, honouring the brave young men of Bomber Command who lost their lives during the Second World War".

"It is also fitting that the new owners of the watch should be Martin-Baker who initiated the remarkable story of the watch in 1949. Its place in their museum will allow visitors to both enjoy the story and celebrate the wonderful generosity of both Jo and Martin-Baker Aircraft Co Ltd – sincere thanks to them both."

As the guardian of the Bomber Command Memorial, the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund is committed to preserving the Memorial for future generations, so that the noble sacrifice of the young men who lost their lives while serving in Bomber Command will always be remembered.

The Memorial, unveiled last June by Her Majesty The Queen, commemorates the 55,573 young men who lost their lives while serving in Bomber Command during the Second World War.

The presentation took place at Princess Marina House, the RAF Benevolent Fund's Welfare break home on the seafront in Rustington, West Sussex. Jo was joined by some Bomber Command 'boys'. story and pictures, kind courtesy of http://www.rafbf.org

Ruins of the Cloth Halls and the Clock Tower in the symbolic town of Ypres in Belgium (or 'Wipers' as it was sometimes referred to by British Troops) British soldiers even published a newspaper entitled; 'The Wipers Times' the fascinating story of which featured recently on BBC2 under the expert consultation of Matthew Ward) @HistoryNeedsYou.

'...yet stands the Church Clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea? The famous last lines from Rupert Brooke's poem 'The Old Vicarage, Grantchester' 1912. Rupert Chawner Brooke (1887-1915) pictured above right - was a WW1 poet and in this poem he is referring to the church of St Andrew & St Mary, Grantchester, near Cambridge, England - above - indicating the now immortalised time. Brooke was killed, aged 27, during a mission in the Aegean Sea in 1915.

The above image is of the church clock at the historic Waltham Abbey, Essex, England. The time of the clock has been stuck at 8.54 since the turn of this year. However; the time is going to be re-set to honour Rupert Brooke mentioned above.
Regrettably at the time of this entry, Waltham Abbey Church does not have sufficient funds to commission the clock for repair. The age of the clock is circa1880s. To commemorate the WW1 poet, the Church has decided to move the hands to the 'ten to three' position referencing the famous poem by Rupert Brooke.
The full verse of the poem is as follows;
'Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?
The people of Waltham Abbey have checked the time on the tower since the 1600s and sadly, the chimes which rang out every 15 minutes can no longer be heard since it stopped.
Fortunately the clock makers 'Gillett and Johnston', who made the clock, are advising the church on how to repair it.
Church warden Richard Walters said: “We wanted to change the time to reference the poem and we thought it was appropriate seeing as this year marks 100 years since the start of the First World War...' Story by kind courtesy of http://www.guardian-series.co.uk and many thanks to Paul Hilferink @pgmhilferink and Mike Churcher (see the entry relating to Wokingham Remembers below)

This is an Image of the Rolex Oyster Chronograph Timepiece worn by Flight Lieutenant Gerald Imeson during; 'The Great Escape'.

F/Lt Imeson, from Overton, near Basingstoke, Hants, flew with Bomber Command in the war and was captured by the Germans in October 1941.The Wellington bomber he was piloting was returning to Britain from an attack on Cologne when it was struck by flak and crashed into the North Sea off the Belgian coast. All the crew but one survived the crash and scrambled into a dinghy. At dawn the next day a member of the Belgian resistance swam out to assist them but they were spotted by a German patrol and towed ashore. F/Lt Imeson was taken to a hospital in Germany for a broken ankle before he was sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan, in east Germany.

F/Lt Imeson was instrumental in digging tunnels during the 1944 escape attempt from the camp.He 'queued' to join fleeing PoWs before German guards discovered their incredible escape attempt, which has forever been immortalised in the 1963 film 'The Great Escape'.

Despite being captive in the Stalag, F/Lt Imeson still managed to order and receive a brand new watch in 1942. The Swiss watchmaker had offered all British officer PoWs one of their timepieces to replace the ones seized by the Germans, on condition they pay for them after the war. It was sent to him at the camp via the International Red Cross in Geneva. The deal was only made to British officers as they were seen as 'honourable' gentlemen. F/Lt Imeson wore the watch as he helped dig the three tunnels for the audacious escape attempt of 1944, and whilst he endured the infamous 'Long March' across Germany to evade the advancing Russians in the harsh winter of 1945.

Apparently, he acted as a 'penguin' (one of the men who covertly dispersed soil from the tunnels through holes in their trouser pockets). During the escape attempt, he was allocated position 172 in the queue of PoWs but never made it into the tunnel, as the German guards discovered the break-out.

Sadly, of the 76 heroic men who escaped, 73 were recaptured and 50 of them were executed.

Above; the classic depiction of the heroic escape portrayed in a film poster from 1963.

F/Lt Imeson survived the ordeal and returned to Britain with the Rolex and eventually paid his bill of £170 - about £5,000 today - in 1947.He treasured the watch until he died in 2003 aged 85. His last wishes were for the timepiece to one day be sold, so his family could benefit from it.The Watch had a pre-sale auction estimate of £25,000 but it sold for £50,000 on 6 November 2013. Kind courtesy of @MailOnline and Bourne End Auction House.

Image of Flight Lieutenant Gerald Imeson, from Overton, near Basingstoke, Hants. He flew with Bomber Command during WW2, and was captured by the Germans in October 1941.
He Survived the 'Great Escape' and died at the age of 85 in 2003.

Gerald Imeson and his wife Lesley, photographed in the early 1980sHe can be seen wearing his Rolex Watch. It was at that time fitted with a 1960s expanding steel bracelet which was later replaced by a leather strap.

24 March 2014, marked the 70th anniversary of the day Allied airmen tunnelled their way out of Stalag III in Sagan, East Germany.

Of the 76 who escaped on March 24, 1944, only three returned safely to Britain. The rest were re-captured, and Adolf Hitler [20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945] Chancellor and dictator of Germany throughout WW2 - ordered the execution of 50 of them.

Following the war, the German soldiers responsible for the execution were scattered across Europe, and many had fabricated new identities. The job of tracking them down was given to a team led by a detective from Blackpool, England, Mr Frank McKenna, who had served in Bomber Command during WW2, and was nicknamed 'Sherlock Holmes' by his colleagues.

Speaking about his father’s mission, Mr McKenna's son Ian (pictured left) said: “...This was personal for him. He also knew how easily he could have ended up in a camp like that. Those men were only doing their duty by escaping and he wanted to bring their killers to justice.”

The first breakthrough in the hunt for those responsible, came in a tip-off from a Hamburg hotelier suspicious of a guest claiming to be French. In fact he was Ernst Kah, head of the Schutzstaffel - [Protection Squadron or defence corps] abbreviated to'SS' and 'No12' on the wanted list. Eager to prove his cooperation, he provided the names of other Nationalsozialistische 'Nazis' and where to locate them.

After painstaking work, McKenna’s team made progress. Some 'Gestapo' [Geheime Staatspolizei 'Secret State Police', the official secret police of Nazi Germany] were found in Allied prisons under false identities. Erich Zacharias worked for the US Army and had shot British squadron leader Thomas Kirby-Green and Canadian flying officer Gordon Kidde. He was also responsible for raping and murdering an 18 year-old Czech receptionist who overheard him beating an RAF prisoner. But the unwitting Allies labelled him “harmless” and gave him a job as a customs clerk in the port of Bremen. McKenna surprised him on his shift and arrested him on the spot.

Zacharias escaped and had to be recaptured twice. First he escaped from US custody but McKenna acted quickly and found him at home, packing. Then in England he dug his way of jail but was recaptured again. While waiting for the gallows Zacharias gave McKenna a Rolex watch now estimated to be worth £10,000.Ian said: “He told my father, ‘You are the only one who has been really fair to me. Everyone else has beaten me up but you never did. I want you to have my watch as a thank-you for treating me well.’ My dad never ill-treated his prisoners and that must have taken great self control.”

Frank McKenna (on the left) was awarded an OBE but his role was never well-known. He went back to his detective work in Blackpool, a role that had initially kept him out of the war. He volunteered early on but it was a restricted profession.

Mr McKenna's son Ian concluded; '...He joined the RAF and beat the odds to survive more than 30 missions as a flight engineer. Ian said: “Before my mum died she told me they talked it over and dad said it was the right thing to do. Bits of what was happening in the Holocaust were starting to filter through and he said it was his duty.”

The moment of arrest. Frank McKenna captures Erich Zacharias at Bremen.Frank McKenna died at the age of 87 in 1994. Around the same time he was honoured with a speech at a memorial service to mark the 50th anniversary of the Great Escape at the RAF church at St Clement Danes, London.Story and images by kind courtesy of http://www.mirror.co.uk

Mighty Congo Almost Swallows Soldier's Rolex

This image is by very kind courtesy of Mr Jeremy Dawes from South Africa, who emailed this image and the following story after hearing the timeforremembrance feature on The David Lowe Show BBC Radio Devon @DystoniaDavid" I thought of a fascinating story that my father-in-law told me. He was Frederick Spencer Brown A wireless operator and captain in the South African air force during WW2. In 1941 as a flight lieutenant he was based "somewhere in Central Africa", and during one "off time" hired the services of some African boatmen who ferried people across the massive Congo river. They employed dug out canoes carved out of huge jungle trees and I suppose for the price of a sixpence or something my father-in-law was able to make use of the ferry. The Congo is an enormous river and half way through the journey he trailed his left hand in the muddy waters. His very expensive Rolex watch parted company in the swift current. The young lieutenant hurriedly responded by sweeping his hand through the murky waters and Lo and Behold, came to grips, literally with the disappearing, priceless timepiece. Nowhere in darkest Africa could he have replaced his valuable Rolex and indeed this beautiful watch continued giving excellent service long after this theatre of war was forgotten. Unfortunately we no longer have either the watch or even a picture of it.But I enclose a photo of FS Brown in uniform and there certainly is a watch on his wrist [you will note it is covered by some sort of camouflage ; this was necessary to keep the brilliant sunshine from reflecting off the watch glass ! Hope you will enjoy this memory. Yours very sincerely Jeremy Dawes"Plettenberg Bay SouthAfrica.

Originally known as "colour change clocks", these were introduced during the First World War by the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 to monitor the movements of German aircraft. During the Second World War they played a significant role in the Battle of Britain and continued to be used by the RAF and The Royal Observer Corps as simple clocks and keepsakes.

The Sector Clock was instrumental in Ground-controlled interception before modern computerized systems took over for airspace control. The Clock Dial is marked with five-minute red, yellow and blue triangular segments. It has an outer 12 hour ring and an inner 24 hour dial. It bears an old style 'King's Crown' RAF Warrant Officer's insignia under the '24' at top centre. Aircraft position was recorded along with the colour of the triangle beneath the minute hand at the time of sighting. This was reported to sector headquarters, where counters of the relayed colour were used to represent each air raid on a large table with a map of the UK overlaid with a British Modified Grid. As the plots of the raiding aircraft moved, the counters were pushed across the map by magnetic 'rakes' (a scene recorded in numerous war films - see below.) This system enabled 'Fighter Controllers' to see very quickly where each formation was heading and allowed an estimate to be made of possible targets. The age of the information was readily apparent from the colour of the counter. Because of the simplicity of the system, decisions could be made quickly and easily.This particular Sector Clock was in operation during The Siege of Malta. This was a significant and historic military campaign fought in the 'Mediterranean Theatre' of WW2 from 1940 to 1942. The fight for the control of the strategically important island of Malta pitted the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany against the RAF and the Royal Navy. This Clock may be viewed at Bygones in Torquay, Devon along with many other original military items

RAF Digby (Lincolnshire, UK) Sector Operations Room.

The Sector Clock can be seen on the back wall of the Operations Room.

Alternative angle of a Sector Clock.

For an in depth view and review of the Battle of Britain 'Ops' Room at Imperial War Museum Duxford, England, visit the marvellous website of Richard Moss.

MBE Legion of Merit FRSL (15 October 1912 – 31 July 2000) was a journalist and writer, among other positions working for Vogue magazine and The Aeroplane magazine.

Her knowledge of aircraft took her into the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in WW2. She served with the Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) at RAF Medmenham, reaching the rank of Flight Officer. Another fellow PI present at Medmenham was Winston Churchill's daughter, Sarah Oliver.

Working on the interpretation of aerial reconnaissance photographs, Constance was credited with the discovery of the V1 bomb at Peenemunde, Germany.

The V-1 was developed at Peenemünde Army Research Centre by the German Luftwaffe during WW2. During initial development it was known by the codename "Cherry Stone". In the first of the so-called terror bombings of London, the V-1 was fired from launch sites along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts. The first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944), one week after (and prompted by) the successful Allied landing in Europe. At its peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at south-east England, 9,521 in total, decreasing in number as sites were overrun until October 1944, when the last V-1 site in range of Britain was overrun by Allied forces. After this, the V-1s were directed at the port of Antwerp and other targets in Belgium, with 2,448 V-1s being launched. The attacks stopped when the last launch site was overrun on 29 March 1945.

The British operated an arrangement of defences (including guns and fighter aircraft) to intercept the bombs before they reached their targets as part of 'Operation Crossbow', while the launch sites and underground V-1 storage depots were targets of strategic bombing.

She made an uncredited appearance in the Air Ministry feature filmTarget for Tonight, along with her fellow Medmenham colleague, Sqn Ldr Peter Riddell. Constance was portrayed (if only too briefly) in the 1965 film Operation Crossbow by actress, Sylvia Syms.

In 1942, Constance Babington Smith was Mentioned in Dispatches for her work and in 1945 she was awarded the MBE.

The photograph of Constance above is from the excellent book 'Spies in the Sky' by Taylor Downing. For more about this ground-breaking hero see the magnificent site by Elinor Florence http://elinorflorence.com/blog/babington-smith

This image of a sundial at the eleventh hour was taken by @LaingHome (Andy Laing) at RAF Tuddenham in the village of Tuddenham St. Mary in Suffolk. Placed on the village green it remembers the crews of 90 Squadron RAF.

Superb image of a P-47 plane being transported by lorry from Liverpool docks - and according to Lee (Twitter account) @LWefc and @idillon81 - is Likely to be on its way to RAF Burtonwood in Warrington, England (a USAAF airbase during WW2). Note the landmark clock tower with its iconic 'Liver bird' atop the 'Royal Liver Building' towering over the Mersey River. The left image above, was kindly provided by @ChadHaase and @Son_of_Sandor. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the information above. The image above centre represents a 'Republic P-47 Thunderbolt' WW2 United States Army, Air Force plane in more detail. Should anyone wish to see or research more information regarding RAF Burtonwood, the wonderful book shown above right by A P Ferguson - and kindly provided to us by Lee - contains many more iconic images and detail.

This image and story is by very kind courtesy of Mrs S Harding of Exeter, Devon, England.

'...I saw the article in the recent 'Exeter Living' and wondered if you might be interested in the attached photos of a clock which belonged to my Great Aunt, Anna Catherine Ashford 1865-1956.

For many years, including those of the Second World War, Great-Aunt Kate lived at 4 Marlborough Road, St Leonards and on the night of the Exeter blitz her house shook so much that the dome covering the French clock shattered and one of the 'Sevres' inserts was damaged. Luckily, the rest of the clock survived and still keeps good time on my mantelpiece.Kind Regards Sheila Harding (nee Ashford)...'

French Ormolu Striking Clock with pink porcelain sevres plaque inserts.One of the sevres inserts was damaged along with the glass clock dome during the Exeter Blitz of April & May 1942.

The first bombing on St Thomas, Exeter, Devon, in the Second World War, was on 7th August 1940 and caused relatively minor damage.After the first raid, Exeter suffered a further 18 raids. In 1942, Hitler was enraged by the RAF's bombing of the ancient German cathedral city of Lubeck, so he decided to launch a series of reprisal raids on many of Englands most beautiful, yet strategically unimportant towns. Hitler used the 'Baedeker' tourist guide to select the targets and on 23rd and 25th April, Exeter was the first to be hit.

Supplied by kind courtesy of: Penrose Antiques Ltd @PenroseAntiques. In memory and celebration of all those men & Women who made the ultimate sacrifice whilst serving in the Navy.

Beautiful and moving image kindly provided by http://chatteris.ccan.co.uk chatterisarchive@hotmail.co.uk It shows the Chatteris War Memorial, Cambridgeshire, England and commemorates all who gave their lives during both World Wars.

Pictorial Propaganda- The top image to the left has been doctored -although the event did occur. - It shows the raising of a flag over the Reichstag in a historic World War II photograph taken during the Battle of Berlin on 2 May 1945, by Yevgeny Khaldei. The second picture down is the original, and the bottom image shows a closeup of a soldier wearing two wristwatches. This may have been evidence of looting of the dead. Evidence of tampering with the original photograph was revealed by scratching the negative. More clouds of smoke had been added and the wristwatch was also removed from the right arm of the soldier!

This is a watch designed for reading by the blind. The posting was dedicated in loving memory of Ephraim Rotter, by their grandchild. Ephraim Rotter was blinded in the Holocaust and owned this watch. If anyone has any further detail, please get in touch.

The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) Nuremberg, Germany.

One of the most notable features of the church is the 'Männleinlaufen', an automaton mechanical clock that commemorates 'the Golden Bull of 1356' (a Holy Decree constitutionalising important elements of The Holy Roman Empire - the Bull being named after the image on a coin & seal.)

The clock was installed in the church in 1506. The Holy Roman Emperor is shown seated with the 'Prince-Electors' surrounding him.

Adolf Hitler Salutes National Socialist Party (Nazi) Troops at one of the Nuremberg Rallies (1927 - 1938) with the Frauenkirche in the background.

In the 1934 propaganda film regarding the Nuremberg Rally 'Triumph of the Will' by Leni Riefenstahl, the final scene includes a military parade through Nuremberg, with Adolf Hitler saluting Nazi troops with the Frauenkirche in the background.

In November 1945, the victors of World War 2 began the first international war crimes trial. The choice of the city in which to hear the trial - Nuremberg - was symbolic and significant, because it was here that the Nazi Party passed many of its anti-Semitic laws, and chose to hold its annual rallies because of the city's relevance with the Holy Roman Empire.

This is an image of a rare limited edition watch believed to have been produced by the Nazi Party in order to celebrate Adolf Hitler's 47th birthday in 1936. It was discovered by customs officials in Poland in 2011, after stopping a suspected cigarette smuggler.

The 'Junghans' pocket watch - displaying Nazi insignia and with a special medal commemorating the date - is understood to have been produced for the Nazi party 'faithful'.
Border guards in Grzechotki, Poland, discovered the timepiece when they stopped a 'nervous' driver crossing from Russia.
When the car was searched they found the watch hidden in a compartment in the boot.
The confiscated watch has been handed to the Polish Historical Museum to help identify its history and provenance.

The word 'swastika' is understood to have derived from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. Indeed, the swastika was the good luck charm of choice for many through the ages, as can be seen by the badge worn by Matilde E. Moisant (1878-1964) an American pioneer aviator (above right.) She was the second woman in the United States to get a pilot's license. The first woman to obtain a pilot's license was Elise Raymonde de Laroche, born France (1882 - 1919). During WW2 Hitler & The Nazi Party adapted the proportions of the swastika making them uniform and based on a 5 × 5 diagonal grid. The mirror-image forms are often described as:
clockwise and anti-clockwise;
left-facing and right-facing;
left-hand and right-hand.
'Left-facing' and 'right-facing' are terms used to denote the image dependant on the viewers perspective (see the images above) .'clockwise' usually refers to the right-facing swastika. The terms are used interchangeably now and confusion is often caused as to which way the cross should 'point'. This obfuscates a more than significant point with reference to the overarching concept of this archive, that the 'act of rotation itself' of the swastika may have symbolic connections to time per se, Again, the importance of the measurement of time is acknowledged in many ancient scripts where they describe the symbolic relevance of clock motion and counter clock motion in relation to time passing, the stars and the calendar.

To emphasise the point made above. One of our most celebrated authors and poets, Rudyard Kipling (December 1865 – 18 January 1936) frequently made use of the Swastika. Many older editions of Rudyard Kipling's books have one printed on their covers - associated with a picture of an elephant carrying a lotus flower - reflecting the influence of Indian culture. Kipling's use of the swastika was based on the Indian sun symbol conferring good luck and the Sanskrit word meaning "fortunate" or "well-being".

In a note to Edward Bok Kipling in 1911, Rudyard said:

"I am sending with this for your acceptance, as some little memory of my father to whom you were so kind, the original of one of the plaques that he used to make for me. I thought it being the Swastika would be appropriate for your Swastika. May it bring you even more good fortune."

He used the swastika symbol in both right- and left-facing orientations, and as noted above, it was in general use at the time.See also his entry in 'Time Capsules'.

Art Mimics Life For The New Owner of Von Ribbentrop Watch

One of our most accomplished scriptwriters was initially thrilled to discover his $200 vintage Longines watch was worth £50,000. The dilemma? He is Jewish – and a secret swastika inside proved it once belonged to Hitler's right-hand man . . .

In August 2010, Laurence Marks ('Birds of a Feather' writer) related the fascinating story of how he happened upon a notorious watch which was to cause him a ponderous dilemma;

'one summer afternoon as I was wandering along Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, that my eye was caught by a tray of what Americans call estate watches. Here they are known simply as second-hand, although I prefer 'previously used'.

I was drawn to a small, simple and beautiful Longines Art Deco wristwatch. I was in a buying mood. Could this watch cheer me up? Would it take my mind off having to return to Paramount Studios on Monday morning to spend the week with a group of American comedy writers who were driving me nuts? Who said Hollywood was glamorous?

The watch was $200. I tried it on. It suited me. I left the shop 20 minutes later with the watch on my wrist and a smile on my face. I couldn't stop staring at it although never once did I wonder whom it might have belonged to.

in 1993, I treated myself to a modern chronograph and put the Longines in a bank deposit box, where it lay for nearly ten years.In 2002 I started wearing the Longines again. I had forgotten how simple and beautiful it was. But I quickly realised it was losing between eight and ten minutes each day. I decided to take it to a City of London watch repairer. Had I not done so I would never have discovered the watch's provenance; a discovery that made me look into my soul and ask myself, what kind of person am I?

The watch repairer phoned about three weeks later to tell me my watch had been cleaned, was now in perfect working order and was ready for collection. Then there was silence. Cautiously and tentatively he enquired: Is this watch a family heirloom, Mr Marks?' I told him it wasn't. Why did he ask? 'I think there is something you should come and see,' he said. I did. With a watchmaker's precision he removed the hinged back from the watch, handed me his watchmaker's eyeglass, and said: 'Look. Well, what do you see?' What I saw were the initials JVR. 'It's not uncommon to have an old watch engraved, is it?' I asked. 'With a swastika?' said the watch repairer. There it was. Right beneath the initials was a small elegantly engraved swastika, under which was the date, 1930. I won't say I wasn't shocked. Being Jewish, all the more so. I couldn't tell anyone I was wearing a Nazi watch. I would never be forgiven. I asked the watch repairer: 'Who was 'JVR'? And what was the swastika all about? He wasn't prepared to hazard a guess but suggested that if I was really interested I should take the watch to one of the famous London auction houses . '

'So who do you think it belonged to - asked the clock expert at Sothebys? After a close examination of the inside back of the watch she suggested her money was on Joachim von Ribbentrop. Being an impassioned reader of modern history, I knew a little about Von Ribbentrop: that he had been Hitler's friend and fixer, the German ambassador to Great Britain and Nazi Germany's Foreign Minister. He was the man who signed the Von Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, which effectively gave the green light to Germany to start the Second World War. And who knows, he was probably wearing my watch as he was signing the document. What I didn't know was that while Von Ribbentrop was the German ambassador in the Thirties, he built himself a large house on Pinner Hill, Middlesex, where he became an upright member of the local community and even joined the Pinner Golf Club.

But to return to the watch. It was explained to me that it was essential to leave no doubt that the back of the watch wasn't a forgery and tests would have to be conducted to establish that the gold on the back of the watch was made at the same time as the gold on the front. Gold specialists would examine the watch, as would Longines in Geneva. Furthermore, Longines might also be able to confirm when the watch was made and where it was sold.

Five months passed before I heard from the auction house. Much to my astonishment (and secret wish) it was confirmed that my watch was genuine. It did belong to Von Ribbentrop. It was bought, we know not by whom, in Berlin in 1930, and best of all, so I was informed, it could be exceedingly valuable. The watch was valued between £40-£50000.

So why was his watch so very collectable? Well, it could have been because he was the first Nazi war criminal hanged at the Nuremberg War Trials. It should have been prisoner number one, Hermann Goering, but he took poison in his cell. Prisoner number two was Rudolf Hess, but he convinced the judges he was off his trolley and so escaped the noose and was given life imprisonment. Now it was time to make some difficult moral decisions. Should I put the watch into auction, and being a Jew, my decision was made more difficult. I realised I needed to discuss my dilemma with somebody who might offer some spiritual guidance.

His co-writer Maurice Gran and Mr Marks, came up with the idea of writing a play based on this very discovery and dilemma, and created the play 'Von Ribbentrop’s Watch' which opened at the Oxford Playhouse on September 9 2010,

There have been numerous and varied accounts of the death of Adolf Hitler, some more controversial than others. The image on the left depicts the front page of 'Stars and Stripes' reporting the death of Hitler at the time.

The following is reportedly from Gerhard Herrgesell, the stenographer in situ for the last recorded conferences of the Supreme Command. It appears to record the moments leading up to Herrgesell leaving the bunker room and possibly just before Hitler's much argued fate (there is no graphic detail reported);

(May 21, 1945:"Adolf Hitler's last hours", 'TIME' [Magazine])[In Berchtesgaden, last week, Gerhard Herrgesell, stenographer to Germany's Supreme Headquarters Staff, told TIME Correspondent Percival Knauth the story of the last recorded conferences which the Supreme Command held, in a little bomb- proof room deep in the earth under the Berlin Chancellery:]

"I Must Die Here." Said Herrgesell: "The decisive briefing which determined the fate of all of us began at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of April 22 and lasted until nearly 8 o'clock that evening. At this briefing Adolf Hitler declared that he wanted to die in Berlin. He repeated this 10 or 20 times in various phrases. He would say: `I will fall here' or `I will fall before the Chancellery' or `I must die here in Berlin.' He reasoned that the cause was irretrievably lost, in complete contrast to his previous attitude, which had always been: `We will fight to the last tip of the German Reich.'" "What reasons motivated his change of heart no one knows. He expressed the fact that his confidence was shaken. He had lost confidence in the Wehrmacht quite a while ago, saying that he had not gotten true reports, that bad news had been withheld from him. This afternoon he said that he was losing confidence in the Waffen SS, for the first time. He had always counted on the Waffen SS as elite troops which would never fail him. Now he pointed out a series of reports which he declared were false." This, and the failure of the SS troops to hold the Russians north of Berlin, Herrgesell said, had apparently convinced Hitler that his elite troops had lost heart. "The Fuhrer always maintained that no force, however well trained and equipped, could fight if it lost heart, and now he felt his last reserve was gone." Nerve Control. "During all this time participants in this conference were changing constantly. Hitler himself was generally composed. Every time he really began to get angry or excited, he would quickly get himself under control again. His face was flushed and red, however, and he paced the floor almost constantly, walking back & forth, sometimes smacking his fist into his hand. But of all the participants at all the conferences, the Fuhrer was generally the one who kept his nerves best under control. "The really decisive conference took place in late afternoon. It lasted only about 15 minutes. Present were Hitler, Martin Bormann, successor to Hess as the Fuhrer's personal representative, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Colonel General Alfred Jodl. All others were sent away except the two stenographers. "Hitler again expressed his determination to stay in Berlin, and said he wanted to die there. He thought it would be the greatest service he could render to the honor of the German nation. In this conference his desire to stay in the Chancellery was violently opposed. Keitel spoke to him in really sharp terms, reminding him that his new attitude was contradictory to his former plans. Bormann supported Keitel no less strongly." Out of the Mousetrap. "Jodl was a quiet man who spoke little, but when he spoke, it was always clearly, frankly and to the point. Now he also came out strongly against Hitler. He declared very firmly that he, personally, would not stay in Berlin; he thought it was a mousetrap, and his job was to lead the troops, not stand with a flintlock in his hand defending the city and in the end dying in the rubble of its ruins. "When Keitel and Bormann saw that they could not move Hitler to change his mind, they said that in spite of his orders, they would also stay. Hitler again ordered them to leave; in ten minutes, he said, the Russians might be before the Chancellery. Keitel and Bormann repeated that they would stay. Keitel added: `We would never be able to confront our wives and children if we left.'" "Hitler then said that in two or three days, in a week at the very most, Berlin would be finished and the Chancellery taken. He said that he had considered what would happen after his own death. He gave an order to the other three men--it was not clear to whom he gave it, or whether he actually meant it as an order to one of them specifically. He said: `You must go to southern Germany, form a government, and Goring will be my successor. Goring wird verhandeln--Goring will negotiate.'" Vague & Uncertain. "Whether this last statement was an order or a prophecy, no one knows. He might have said it in a spirit of resignation, realizing that if Goring were to succeed him, he would undertake negotiations. He might also have meant it as a direct order to negotiate after his death. The Fuhrer was by now rather vague and uncertain, giving no direct orders, apparently preoccupied with the prospect of his own imminent death. "Jodl interjected that Germany still had some armies capable of action. He mentioned the Central Army Group under Field Marshal Schorner which was disposed south of Berlin in the direction of Dresden, and the Twelfth Army of General Wenck, a newly formed army which was to stand against the Americans on the Elbe. Perhaps, said Jodl, these armies could change the course of events around Berlin. Hitler evidenced little interest. He gave no orders, shrugged his shoulders and said: `You do whatever you want.'" Search for Death. "As to Hitler's death, I don't believe we will ever find a witness who can tell us how it happened. But I don't believe the Fuhrer remained in the cellar. I believe he went out, possibly several times, looking for death to which he was now so completely resigned, and that he may have died by artillery fire. One thing we do know--he was not the last man alive in the Chancellery bunker, because after his death we still received some radio reports from there." At this point Correspondent Knauth told Herrgesell of reports he had heard from U.S. security officers: that Hitler had been killed by SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Guensche, the Fuhrer's personal adjutant. Said Herrgesell: "Guensche was a giant of a man and very violent. He would be capable of doing it if he were asked to, or if he thought the time had come to shoot the Fuhrer and then himself. But I don't believe it happened that way. I honestly believe that Hitler sought his death. He was convinced that all was irretrievably lost, that he could trust nobody any more and that he must die. "During all this time, artillery fire on the Chancellery was increasing and even deep down in the cellar we could feel concussions shaking the building. The conference finally broke up in indecision. I was ordered to leave Berlin with my stenographic reports but my partner was to remain. He pointed out that in that case the reports were valueless, because if he stayed no one would be able to transcribe his records, and without his, mine would be incomplete. Bormann then ordered us both to leave that evening by plane. "That was the last plane and we were the last people to leave Berlin."

Prime Minister Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill(30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) British politician and Prime Minister of The United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945.Born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, Prime Minister Churchill led the country to victory against Nazi Germany and the Axis powers in World War 2.

He is pictured here wearing his Rolex Chronometer Wristwatch.

Below is the dated letter of acceptance by Sir Winston to Rolex containing his particular fastidious instructions for the engraving design.

Rolex appears to be the Wristwatch of choice for many iconic Statesmen, Politicians and Royalty, including Dwight D Eisenhower and Lord Louis Mountbatten who favoured the 'Rolex Oyster Perpetual'.

President of the United States of America, Dwight D. Eisenhower wearing his yellow gold Rolex 'Datejust', Circa 1957

These incredibly modern looking images from WW1, represent young women from the Forestry Corps sharpening axes and putting one to use. The 'Lumberjills' as they became known, played a more than significant role in both world wars.
The very prominent timepiece worn on the left wrist of the girl in the left-hand image, appears to be a military 'wristlet'. Timekeeping would have
been of the essence in the midst of the forest, and it is probable the hands and numerals on the dial would have been luminous.
Many watches of this style could be purchased through Army & Navy Stores catalogues.

Women's Land Army

The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls.

Women's Forage Corps Demand for forage during both World Wars was incessant. The foundations of the Women’s Forage Corps, R.A.S.C. [Royal Army Service Corps], were laid in 1915. The civilian Womens Forage Corps, formed by the Government in 1915, came under the control of the Army Service Corps.Women's Forestry Corps The Women's Forestry Service was started by Miss Rosamund Crowdy as a section of the Land Army, controlled by the Timber Supply Department of the Board of Trade, this organisation maintained a supply of wood for industrial and paper production at home, and for construction purposes in the various theatres of war. Whereas the latter was under the control of the Board of Agriculture the W.F.S. came under the control of the Board of Trade. The Timber Supply Department came into being as an independant body in July/August 1917.

The Women's Timber Corps, otherwise known as 'Lumberjills'.

The Lumberjills were a unit of of The Women's Land Army along with The Land Girls, (who are more often used as the iconic image of the Women's Home Front) although providing no less of a contribution to the war effort in general.

The Women’s Timber Service as noted above, had actually been set up during WW1, but in April 1942 the Ministry of Supply inaugurated The Women’s Timber Corps in England. When supply grew, Scotland followed in May 1942, forming its own Women’s Timber Corps. This was a new unit with its own identity and uniform. In Scotland, girls and women were recruited from the age of 17, however, some were as young as 14. Their issued badge contained a fir tree instead of the bundle of wheat featured on The Land Girls uniform. Their role and contribution to the war effort must never be underestimated or forgotten. A memorial statue to commemorate the 'immeasurable' hard work and effort undertaken during WW2 has been erected in Aberfoyle, Scotland. The remarkable work and achievement undertaken by those heroic women of the various forestry services during WW1 should also be commemorated for all time.

This image portrays a 'Timekeeper' at work with the lumberjills. Regrettably, her name, like the others above is not known. She was photographed in a lumber camp, in Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada, during April 1943.

A Memorial Statue

to commemorate the 'immeasurable' hard work and effort undertaken by The Lumberjills during WW2 has been erected in Aberfoyle, Scotland.

The remarkable work and achievement undertaken by those heroic women of the various forestry services during WW1 should also be commemorated for all time.

Examples of American Propaganda Posters using Time as the theme to motivate.
Purported to have been proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, WW1 appears to have been the catalyst for the Daylight Savings campaign. On the left 'Uncle Sam' turns the clock forward for '1 hour of extra daylight' during WW1.
In Britain the clocks were advanced by an hour on 17 May 1916. This was later enshrined in law as a wartime production-boosting device under the Defence of the Realm Act (Dora). It was subsequently adopted in many other countries.

The old City Hall, Radnice, housing the Astronomical Clock in Prague,before part of it was destroyed at the end of WW2.Please see the image below...

Above; Another example of stereotypical advertising. Hopefully, horologists 'Clock Watchers' are not included within the ranks of 'slackers' and time wasters.

Above; inspiring utilization of every moment of the day for the war effort. John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948) was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. In August 1940, he publicly supported the "Destroyers for Bases Agreement", whereby the United States sold fifty warships from World War I to the UK in exchange for lengthy leases of land on British possessions for the establishment of military bases.

The scale of the bomb damage... The Astronomical Clock was first installed in 1410, making it the oldest one still working!Thankfully, this awe inspiring clock had already undergone fastidious restoration when we were fortunate enough to visit it during our honeymoon to Prague in 2003. We watched and listened to it in its restored former glory! (Steve & Cathy McAnespie).

Admiral Horatio Nelson's Gold Pocket Watch worn by him at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The watch was made by Josiah Emery of Charing Cross London, and bears 2 subsidiary dials, the top dial for the hours & the lower for the seconds.

The timepiece, which Nelson may have bought with the prize money that he earned from his victory over the French at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797, was reputedly his most important personal possession. According to Mr M Downer, an expert on Admiral Nelson; "Out of all the handful of possessions that Nelson had with him when he stepped out on the deck of the Victory at Trafalgar 200 years ago the watch was the most important,"

The watch sold for £400,000 in auction at Sotheby's, London in 2005.

After he was mortally wounded at Trafalgar, the watch was inherited by his brother William, first Earl Nelson before passing to the Earl’s daughter Charlotte. She mounted the watch in a carriage clock case which she engraved:

THE CHRONOMETER OF Horatio Viscount Nelson WORN BY HIM AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR placed in this case by his Niece CHARLOTTE MARY, LADY BRIDPORT to be preserved for any of her descendants who may ENTER THE NAVY

The watch is now proudly on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.Pictures courtesy of Mr Martyn Downer http://www.martyndowner.com

Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States, April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826.

Jefferson indulged his twelve grandchildren, and he took joy in pleasing them. He traditionally gave each a watch, and directed in his will that this practice continue after his death. Although he owned and gave gold watches as presents, during most of his lifetime Jefferson customarily wore a silver pocket watch.

Remembered for his efforts to maintain neutrality in the midst of the conflict between Britain and France; his efforts did not avert war with Britain in 1812.

'No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any' —Thomas Jefferson.

For a comprehensive biography of Thomas Jefferson visit: monticello.org

Thomas Jefferson's Gold Pocket Watch Key. Circa 1782.

This memento mori watch key is dedicated to his wife Martha, and contains a lock of her hair. The inscription reads: Martha W. Jefferson Born 19 Oct. 1748, Died 6 Sept. 1782.

Jefferson avowedly made a promise to his wife which is recorded as: "Nay if even in the house of Hades men forget their dead. Yet will I even there be mindful of my dear companion," - This was his chosen epitaph on the grave of his wife, Martha. Jefferson never remarried.

Wokingham Town Hall Circa 1920 shortly after WW1. In its opening declaration in 1860 the following description including its impressive clock was given 'A degree of prominence is given to the Town Hall by an increased decoration in the windows and archways. The roofs are covered by green slates. Considerable variety in the outline is caused by the ornamental towers over the entrances at each end of the hall, and the clock turret rising from the centre of the hall roof...' By kind courtesy of http://www.wokinghamremembers.com a fascinating insight into the history of this wonderful Berkshire town including film of Mons WW1 etc.

Soldiers of the British Army on leave in Venice, Italy, June 1945. We understand them to be: Driver C W (Bill) Hoe of Mansfield, Notts, England, and Driver F G (Freddie) Talbot of Brentford, Middlesex, both of whom spent more than 2 years overseas. This image was taken in the Piazza San Marco, Venice.

Should you have any further information regarding the soldiers and their timepieces depicted, please get in touch.

In the background is the famous St Mark's Clock, which tells the time, season, month and day of the year. The dial is a 'concentric-ring' astronomical Clock, rather than the 'astrolabe' type with an offset zodiac dial, as found at Prague (in the image above). an astrolabe was historically used by astronomers, navigators and astrologers for locating and predicting the positions of the sun, moon, planets and stars.In 1996, a controversial restoration was initiated, funded by watchmakers Piaget. According to many horologists at the time, the restoration and conservation was less than sympathetic, which included adjustments to the length of the pendulum.

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If you would like your treasured item repaired or renovated, please contact Cathy McAnespie at PrimeTime of Exeter Ltd 01392 207707. www.primetimeexeter.co.ukWe would be only too happy to help. Thank you so much for your interest. Since September 2013, Time For Remembrance has been featured in and supported by BBC Spotlight, BBC Radio Devon, Exeter Living Magazine, Express & Echo and many other newspapers and distributors. We would like to thank them all for their kind support & we look forward to receiving your support and kind contributions.

Above Left; The Lumberjills take a well earned break, see their story above. On the right; close but no cigar...bomb damage too close for comfort to Big Ben in London.

WASP; Read about their overwhelming contribution to WW2 above.

Nurses working overseas during WW2 taking time out. Four flight nurses from the 801st Evacuation Squadron pose together in Guadalcanal in 1944. Kind courtesy of Emma Declerck. See her outstanding photo collections on Pinterest http://littlemissbamboo.blogspot.be

Air Raid Patrol Underground WW2

The Bombings of 1940 forced a reappraisal of 'deep-shelter' policy and at the end of October the Government decided to construct a system of deep shelters linked to existing tube stations.

Left; An Air Raid Patrol Officer in the Clapham South. London tube tunnel.

'Helping the War Effort'. Advertisement advising limiting call times to a minimum.

An interesting alternative front cover focussing on a close-up of various wheels, pinions and levers of a clock movement, chosen for the outstanding book 'Four-Fifty Miles to Freedom' detailed above.

Another example ofUncle Sam motivating Americans to use every hour of the day during WW1. Please see more examples of this type of artwork above.